Innovations in the Synthesis and Design of Peptides with Biomedical and Biomaterial Applications

February 10 - 11, 2018

Chairs Cody J. Lensing and Marlies V. Hager

Ventura Beach Marriott

2055 Harbor Boulevard

Ventura, CA, US

Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

The Gordon Research Seminar on the Chemistry and Biology of Peptides is focused on providing graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and other early-career scientists the opportunity to present, exchange, and discuss new data, ideas, and cutting edge science.

This meeting will focus on recent innovations in the chemistry and biology of peptides. Topics of discussion will include recent advances in the synthesis of challenging peptides, the development of biologically active peptides, and emerging applications of peptides such as peptidic biomaterials. The seminar will include both oral and poster presentations by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. It will also include a career panel with senior researchers in both industry and academia.

Related Meeting

This GRS will be held in conjunction with the "Chemistry and Biology of Peptides" Gordon Research Conference (GRC). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRC in addition to an application for the GRS. Refer to the associated GRC program page for more information.

Conference Program

Saturday
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm	Arrival and Check-in
3:30 pm - 3:45 pm	Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff / Welcome from the GRS Chair
3:45 pm - 4:30 pm	Advances in Peptide Chemistry Discussion Leaders: Bimal Koirala (University of Nevada, Reno, USA) and Diedra Shorty (University of California, Davis, USA)
3:45 pm - 4:00 pm	Patrick Salveson (University of California, Irvine, USA) "Switching the Oligomerization State of Aβ-Derived Peptides with Light"
4:00 pm - 4:10 pm	Discussion
4:10 pm - 4:25 pm	Alicia Mangubat-Medina (Rice University, USA) "Photoreversible Backbone Modification of Natural Proteins for Controlling Folding and Activity"
4:25 pm - 4:30 pm	Discussion
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Exploring the Biological Activities of Peptides Discussion Leaders: Kelly George (University of Pittsburgh, USA) and Adam Kreutzer (University of California, Irvine, USA)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm	James Checco (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) "Exploring the Signaling of D-Amino Acid-Containing Neuropeptides"
7:45 pm - 7:55 pm	Discussion
7:55 pm - 8:10 pm	Chloe Mitchell (The Hospital for Sick Children, Canada) "Peptide-Based Inhibitors of Bacterial Small Multidrug Resistance Efflux Pumps"
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm	Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:35 pm	Katlyn Fleming (University of Minnesota, USA) "Structure-Activity Relationship Studies of a Macrocyclic AGRP-Mimetic Scaffold c[Pro-Arg-Phe-Phe-Asn-Ala-Phe-DPro] Yield Potent and Selective Melanocortin-4 Receptor Antagonists that Increase Food Intake"
8:35 pm - 8:45 pm	Discussion
8:45 pm - 9:00 pm	Nicholas Sawyer (New York University, USA) "Hydrogen Bond Surrogate Beta-Hairpins to Inhibit Protein-Protein Interactions"
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm	Discussion
9:10 pm - 9:25 pm	Charlie Saunders (Imperial College London, United Kingdom) "Developing a Peptide Probe for the Myosin-A: Myosin Tail Interacting Protein Interaction of Plasmodium falciparum"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Sunday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 11:00 am	Emerging Applications of Peptides Discussion Leaders: James Checco (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) and Theo Flack (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
9:00 am - 9:15 am	Gaurav Bhardwaj (University of Washington, USA) "Accurate Computational Design of Heterochiral Constrained Peptides"
9:15 am - 9:25 am	Discussion
9:25 am - 9:40 am	Erik Hernandez (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, USA) "Selective Modification Chemistries for Natural and Unnatural Side Chains for Emerging Single-Molecule Peptide Sequencing Technologies"
9:40 am - 9:50 am	Discussion
9:50 am - 10:05 am	Zsofia Lengyel (Syracuse University, USA) "Copper-Containing Catalytic Amyloids Promote Phosphoester Hydrolysis and Tandem Reactions"
10:05 am - 10:15 am	Discussion
10:15 am - 10:30 am	Poulami Majumder (National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA) "Injectable Nanocomposite Hydrogel for Long-Term microRNA Therapy in Mesothelioma"
10:30 am - 10:40 am	Discussion
10:40 am - 10:55 am	Naomi Robertson (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom) "A Two-Component Approach to Peptide Stapling"
10:55 am - 11:00 am	Discussion
11:00 am - 12:30 pm	Poster Session Coffee will be served in the poster area from 11:00 am - 11:30 am
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm	Mentorship Component: Career Panel Discussion Leaders: Cody Lensing (University of Minnesota, USA) and Marlies Hager (Unviersity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm	Panel Discussion A Discussion of Career Paths Wendy Hartsock (Ferring Research Institute, USA) Yftah Tal-Gan (University of Nevada, Reno, USA) Laura Kiessling (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm	Evaluation Period Fill in GRS Evaluation Forms
3:00 pm	Seminar Concludes