Alemán Llansó, Carlos

Hamley, I. W.

Reches, Meital

Journal of Peptide Science

English

UPCommons (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya)

PepMat 2016: the second conference onpeptide-based materials for biomedicineand nanotechnologyDuring the last quarter century, research into peptide-based mate-rials has established itself as an interdisciplinary, independent, andvery active branch of science, embracing many areas of physics,chemistry, biology, and computer science. More recently, the devel-opment of complex multimolecular structures, usually at the nano-meter length scale, from naturally occurring biological compoundshas aroused a great deal of interest, giving place to a new researchdiscipline called ‘nanobiology’. Peptide-based materials have occu-pied a leading position in this new field. However, often, specific ap-plications drive research. They present new problems andnecessitate convergence with other fields. Controlled manipulationof peptide nanostructure and microstructures and their mecha-nisms provides an exceptionally challenging scientific goal. Withinthis context, the algorithms, tools, concepts, and methods devel-oped in Materials Science appear to have a tremendous potentialin the utilization of peptides as a unique class of materials, whichalone or combined with more traditional materials (e.g. polymersand inorganic particles) offer inspiration in the development of am-bitious applications, especially in the biomedical and nanotechno-logical field.Prof. Mariano Venanzi (Università di Roma Tor Vergata), whoearly realized potential of combining peptide research,nanobiology, and materials science, was the main organizer of thesymposium ‘Peptide-based Materials: From Nanostructures to Ap-plications’, which was celebrated as part of the Spring Meeting ofthe European Materials Research Society in 2010 (Strasbourg). Afterthat successful symposium, Prof. Venanzi accompanied by Prof.Giancarlo Morelli (University of Naples Federico II) chaired PepMat2013, the First International Conference on Peptide Materials forBiomedicine and Nanotechnology, in Sorrento (October, 2013).The Second Conference (PepMat 2016), which was held in the cen-ter of Barcelona in March 2016, represented a unique opportunityto consolidate the exchange of knowledge, experience, and inno-vative ideas in this growing field. Undoubtedly, the second editionof PepMat allowed crystallizing many collaborations and new pro-jects among leading researchers in the field, while serving as ameeting point for researchers collaborating frequently. Besides, itwas an opportunity for the younger and less experienced re-searchers to exchange views with experts.A total of 9 plenary lectures (45min) and 19 lectures (30 min) anda lively poster session with 29 contributions provided an attractive2.5-day program for scientists from more than 35 institutions and15 countries. The scientific content of the plenary lectures, lecturesand poster presentations reflected the state of the art in establishedand emerging aspects of the topic of the conference.The present issue of the Journal of Peptide Science, which col-lects three reviews and ten full articles, offers exciting examples ofthe field, highlighting that peptide-based materials are compatiblewith the use of a wide range of techniques but demands the con-vergence of disciplines.Hamley and coworkers reviewed the properties and activities oflipopeptides and peptide hormones, relating their uses as thera-peutic drugs with the influence of the self-assembly on bioactivity.In their review, Rosenman and coworkers propose a novel field ofbio–nano–photonics based on a new concept of opticalwaveguiding in synthetic elongated peptide nanostructures com-posed of ordered peptide dipole biomolecules. Venanzi and co-workers analyze the role of the conformationally constrained α-aminoisobutyric acid residue in the aggregation and self-assemblyof oligopeptides, paying special attention to the recent work of thegroup in the field.After the reviews, the issue contains ten full articles. Reches andher colleagues show that the covalent inhibition of HIV-1 integraseby a lens epitheliumderived growth factor-p75 peptide is governedby the spontaneous formation of fibrils, which are in equilibriumwith the active monomeric form. The implications of the use of fi-brils as storage vehicles of peptide monomers for inhibiting otherdisease-related proteins are also discussed. Diaferia et al. studythe assembling properties and magnetic resonance relaxation be-havior of telechelic polyethylene glycol-polymers end-capped bydiphenylalanine motives and containing a chelating agent com-plexed to Gd(III) ion, bound on a lysine side chain at the center ofthe peptide moiety. The work of MacCloskey et al. focuses for thefirst time on the ability of an ultrashort Fmoc-peptide gelator toeradicate established bacterial biofilms implicated in a variety ofmedical devices infections. Lutz et al. employ interface specific vi-brational spectroscopy and coarse-grained molecular simulationsto illustrate that peptide-driven biosilification is greatly affectedby N-terminal peptide modifications. Markey et al. investigatein vitro the inflammatory potential of a β-sheet forming peptide hy-drogel by encapsulating murine monocytes within it and using theproduction of cytokines as makers of inflammatory response.Mazzier et al. report on the light-induced topochemical polymeriza-tion of a symmetrical dipeptide-based diacetylene system, whichself-assembles into compact fiber networks with ordereddiacetylene moieties. The article of Puiggalí-Jou concerns the de-tection of biomolecular recognition events between peptide-func-tionalized microcantilever arrays and fibrin, fibrinogen, or bovineserum albumin by means of nanomechanical sensing. Selminet al. characterize a new hybrid material composed of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) functionalized with a 6-mer penetrating pep-tide consisting of alternating arginine and unnaturalcyclohexylalanine residues that is proposed as a potential mito-chondria-targeting cell permeable vector. Triguero et al. apply firstprinciple calculations to examine the conformational preferencesof the recently engineered Arg-GlE-Asp sequence (GlE is an aminoJ. Pept. Sci. 2017; 23: 80–81 Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.EditorialReceived: 22 December 2016 Accepted: 22 December 2016 Published online in Wiley Online Library: 30 January 2017(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI 10.1002/psc.297180acid bearing a 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene ring as side group) thatwas recently used as adhesive biointerface. Yamazaki et al. showthe preparation of nanocarriers carrying Lewis y, a specific tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen of a well-defined carbohydrate,on the surface, and analyze its antigenicity as function of the sur-face density and nanocarrier morphology.We expect many more exciting advances to develop over thecoming 2 years making the next PepMat meeting, planned for2018 in the UK, a much anticipated event.Carlos AlemánDepartament d’Enginyeria Química, EEBE, Universitat Politècnica deCatalunya, C/Eduard Maristany, 6-10, Sant Adriá del Besòs 08930,SpainCentre for Research in Nanoengineering, Universitat Politècnica deCatalunya, Campus Sud, Edifici C’, C/Pasqual i Vila s/n, Barcelona E-08028, SpainIan W. HamleyDepartment of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights,Reading RG6 6AD, UKMeital RechesInstitute of Chemistry, Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnol-ogy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus,Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, IsraelEDITORIALJ. Pept. Sci. 2017; 23: 80–81 Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jpepsci81

PepMat 2016: The second conference on peptide-based materials for biomedicine and nanotechnology

UPCommons

UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC

Carlos Alemán

Ian W. Hamley

Meital Reches

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PepMat 2016: the second conference on peptide-based materials for biomedicine and nanotechnology

PepMat 2016: The second conference on peptide-based materials for biomedicine and nanotechnology

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UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC

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