7 th International Meeting on Antimicrobial Peptides

This special issue originates from the scientific contributions at the 7 International Meeting on Antimicrobial Peptides held in Copenhagen, at the Panum Center at the University of Copenhagen on August 25‐27, 2017. The conference was organized under the auspices of Roskilde University, the University of Copenhagen, and the Protein & Peptide Science Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Historically, the International Meeting on Antimicrobial Peptides (IMAP) was first organized in Leipzig in 2008. The venue rapidly grew in size and popularity and has for the past years exceeded hundred participants. The meeting in Copenhagen was no exception and was visited by scientists from 25 countries, placed at five continents. There was also an even age and sex distribution, with a high number of undergrads, post docs, and young faculty members. The meeting aimed at covering five overlapping themes in antimicrobial peptide (AMP) research: (1) structure, function, and design of AMPs, (2) therapeutic applications of AMPs, (3) peptide biomaterials and polymers, (4) susceptibility testing of AMPs, and (5) membrane interactions, physical studies, and immunomodulatory aspects of AMPs. Additionally, there was two minor sessions with rapid communications, devoted to presenters selected based on submitted poster abstracts, in which the majority of the talks were presented by young investigators. The sessions enabled the audience to cover multiple topics and identify posters of key interest, while also giving the talented young scientists an invaluable opportunity to present their work for a larger international audience. In this Special Issue of Journal of Peptide Science, we have gathered papers covering a multitude of topics discussed over the course of the conference. For example, in the field of synthesis and design, Labriere et al discuss a novel synthesis strategy of 2,5‐ diketopiperazines and evaluation of their antimicrobial ability. Molchanova et al report on a systematic structure‐activity relationship study determining the influence of fluorination, oligomer length, end‐group modification, and length of hydrophobic side chains, in respect to antibacterial ant hemolytic properties, while Stern and Hayouka present a study on randomized generation of AMPs for use in the food industry to combat spoilage microorganisms in pasteurized milk products. A returning concern with using antimicrobial peptides in the clinic is their potential toxic side‐effects. To counteract this, Forde et al report on a prodrug strategy relying on activation through pathogen associated enzymes. Thus, by complete neutralisation of the AMPs net charge, the authors achieve improved on‐target selectivity between bacterial and human membranes.