Antimicrobial Peptides: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
1–7 Oct 2023
Antimicrobial Peptides, Prediction, Design, Mechanism of Action, Toxicity, In Vivo Efficacy, Microbiota, Host Defense Peptides, Infectious Disease
- Go to the Sessions
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- S1. Opening remarks
- S2. Database, design and prediction of antimicrobial peptides
- S3. Promising antimicrobial leads and mechanisms of action
- S4. Microbiota, antimicrobial peptides and human diseases
- S5. Sunlight, vitamin D, human cathelicidin and antimicrobial role
- S6. Other Topics
- S7. Closing Remarks
- Event Details
Welcome from the Chairs
The symposium “Antimicrobial Peptides: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” will be held on October 6, 2023 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. All the registered conference attendees are invited to submit a virtual poster before September 20. All the posters will be displayed, viewed, and discussed online in Sciforum from Oct 1 to Oct 7, 2023. The topic of your poster can be any antimicrobial peptide research. Sele ct "Other topics" during uploading if your poster has a topic other than the symposium four sessions. The two steps submission is required by the conference system and we will minimize the delay from your abstract submission to your poster uploading.
Your poster will be automatically qualified for the best poster awards selected by both attendees and conference chairs. Each poster can have only one vote from those involved, cast by presenter, even there are multiple authors listed. Each attendee should email their single vote to Lyssa White (alyswhite@unmc.edu) by Oct 4, 2023 noon USA Central time. Please indicate your name, institution, and a brief reason for nomination in your email entitled “Poster award nomination”. The two best poster awards will be announced after the symposium on Oct 6, 2023.
If your study has not been published, you’re encouraged to develop your poster into an article for a special issue on “Antimicrobial Peptides” to be published in Peptides. The special issue edited by conference chairs will open on Oct 1, 2023 and close on May 1, 2024. There will be no publication fee unless you would like an open access for your article.
Contributing
Authors
Essential
Presentations
Event Organizers
Guangshun Wang
Department of Pathology and Microbiology
University of Nebraska Medical Center
In 2003, Wang lab established the Antimicrobial Peptide Database (https://aps.unmc.edu). This year marks its 20 anniversary. This founding database is well recognized and widely utilzied in research and education (24 million webhits and over 5000 total citations). To further promote research and education, Dr. Wang is organing a special symposium on October 6, 2023 in Omaha. He has invited two collegues (Dr. Charles Bevins, UC Davis and Dr. Monique van Hoek, George Mason University) to co-chair this symposium with him. The support of the University made it possible to have a hybrid event since chairs and kkeynote speakers will be flied to Omaha. The symposium will be held on the campus of the University of Nebraska. We will also have a poster session to be held virtually. As the Associate editor of Pharmaceuticals, I want to collaborate with the journal by hosting the poster session virtually using Sciforum.
gwang@unmc.edu
Event Chairs
Charles (Chuck) Bevins is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. (biochemistry) from the University of Maryland. He completed his clinical training (pediatrics) at the University of California, San Francisco, and his postdoctoral studies with Dr. Michael Zasloff at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda. His group studies innate immune defense mechanisms at mucosal surfaces, with a primary focus on defensin peptides. Research in the Bevins laboratory led to the discovery, in 1991, of the first beta-defensin peptide (originally called tracheal antimicrobial peptide), and to the identification and cloning of the two human Paneth cell defensins, human a-defensin (HD)-5 and HD6. Many of the current investigations in his laboratory seek to understand the biological functions of Paneth cell a-defensins in health and disease.
Prof. van Hoek joined George Mason University in August 2002. She was among the first faculty members to join the newly formed National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases bringing her expertise in Francisella tularensis to the center. She joined The School of Systems Biology as an Assistant Professor in 2005 and was promoted to Full Professor in 2017. Her research program is actively focused on two areas: 1) Microbial physiology, especially biofilms and small-molecule communication in Francisella tularensis. 2) Discovering and developing novel antimicrobial peptides against multi-drug resistant and biothreat bacteria, in particular against gram-negative bacteria. The antimicrobial peptide discovery project is a collaborative effort with Dr. Barney Bishop at GMU. Dr. van Hoek gave a TedXGMU talk on this topic and the team was featured in FreeThink’s video “The Real Mother of Dragons”. Dr. van Hoek has published more than 60 papers and has led or co-led many large research projects, including projects funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Office of Naval Research as well as Virginia’s Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CIT). Prior to coming to Mason, Dr. van Hoek worked for Roche Molecular Biochemicals (formerly Boehringer Mannheim) as a Research Manager, developing and launching a portfolio of reagents and product support for Roche’s Molecular Biochemicals’ products and systems. Dr. van Hoek received her B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Victoria, Canada, and her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia Department of Microbiology, Charlottesville, VA.
Department of pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Website
Dr. Guangshun Wang is a Professor in the department of Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), Omaha, Nebraska. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the state and industry. Dr. Wang is interested in the identification, characterization, and design of novel antimicrobials to combat drug-resistant pathogens, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. For this purpose, Dr. Wang has been taking an integrated structural bioinformatics approach. His lab has developed the popular antimicrobial peptide database (APD; https://aps.unmc.edu) and database filtering technology for designing potent peptides with demonstrated efficacy in animal models. As a complementary approach, the lab also uses a structure-based peptide design to obtain potent, stable, and selective peptides against the ESKAPE pathogens. These new antimicrobials constitute interesting leads for developing novel antibiotics or biomaterials to treat or prevent infections. Dr. Wang has edited the book "Antimicrobial Peptides: Discovery, Design and Novel Therapeutic Strategies (2nd ed.)" (CABI, England, 2017), and published over 130 original articles, reviews, and chapters. He has been awarded with six US patents. Dr. Wang also serves as an associate editor for Pharmaceuticals and Frontiers in Microbiology.
gwang@unmc.edu
Sessions
S2. Database, design and prediction of antimicrobial peptides
S3. Promising antimicrobial leads and mechanisms of action
S4. Microbiota, antimicrobial peptides and human diseases
S5. Sunlight, vitamin D, human cathelicidin and antimicrobial role
S6. Other Topics
S7. Closing Remarks
Instructions for Authors
Below are the details for the poster preparation.
- Must be registered for the APD symposium to participate (registration is free).
- Poster size can be 48” x 36” or the size of a poster you made recently. You do not have to print it out since it will be uploaded electronically into SciForum.
- Your poster can be in the pdf, power-point, or recorded lecture format.
- All posters accepted will be automatically qualified for the best poster awards.
- All poster presenters, usually first authors, are qualified to cast a vote for the best poster based on your judgement.
- Two awards will be announced on Oct 6 immediately after the APD symposium.
List of accepted submissions (27)
Id | Title | Authors | Presentation Video | Poster PDF | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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sciforum-081440 | Physicochemical profiling of antimicrobial peptides from Physalaemus santafecinus and their potential role in foam nest construction |
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Silvana Aguilar ,
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Dario Cardozo ,
Andrés Brunetti
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N/A |
Show Abstract |
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Foam nest construction is a unique oviposition method that evolved independently in anurans lineages from the Neotropics, Asia, and Africa. The nest’s formation involves protein secretions from the oviduct follow by a series of fast kicking of the hind legs by the amplectant pair. One of their potential functions is protection against pathogens, but with a lack of supportive evidence. In this sense, the overall aims of our project is to understand whether skin’s antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), produced by dermal glands may be incorporated to the foam during nest formation and modulate its microbiome. This study represents the first steps on this regard. Here, we analyzed transcriptomes from dorsal skin region of a male and a female of Physalaemus santafecinus to assess AMP gene expression. To assemble the transcriptome, we used Trinity and Spades, and Transdecoder and Orfpredictor for translation. Using conserved sequences from the signal peptide region of described prepro-peptides in amphibians, over 40 mature peptides were found in male, 37 in the female, and only 2 in oviduct. The two peptides expressed in the oviduct were also present in skin of both sexes. More than 10 peptides were expressed in both sexes, and other several exhibited similar sequences. These are newly described peptides, sharing <50% similarity with the 3569+ AMPs in the APD (Antimicrobial Peptide Database). Physicochemical analysis revealed varied charges, hydrophobicity, and 3D structures. This transcriptomic characterization of Physalaemus santafecinus skin, coupled with biochemical and microbiological data, offers crucial insights into reproductive mechanism and the role of secretions in foam nest construction. |
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sciforum-081170 | Simultaneous Delivery of Antimicrobial Peptide by Janus-type Dressings for Combating Wound Biofilms |
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Shannon Wong
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N/A |
Show Abstract |
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Biofilms in chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, and venous leg ulcers, pose a major challenge to wound management. Herein, we report a Janus-type antimicrobial dressing for eradication of biofilms in chronic wounds. The dressing consists of electrospun nanofiber membranes coupled with dissolvable microneedle arrays to enable effective delivery of a database-designed antimicrobial peptide to both inside and outside biofilms. This antimicrobial dressing exhibited high efficacy against a broad spectrum of resistant pathogens in vitro. Importantly, such a dressing was able to eradicate methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) biofilms in both an ex vivo human skin wound infection model and a type II diabetic mouse wound infection model after daily treatment without applying surgical debridement. Most importantly, the dressing can also completely remove the Pseudomonas aeruginosa and MRSA, dual-species biofilm in an ex vivo human skin infection model. In addition, our computational simulations also suggested that microneedles were more effective in the delivery of peptides to the biofilms than free drugs. Our results indicate that the Janus-type antimicrobial dressings may provide an effective treatment and management of chronic wound polymicrobial infections. |
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sciforum-080961 | Ensemble AI Approach for Predicting Hemolysis Using Sequence and Concentration of Functional Peptides |
Yu-Lin Tseng ,
Wen-Chih Cheng ,
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N/A |
Show Abstract |
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Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as a promising approach in the development of antibiotics. In contrast to traditional chemical-based antibiotics, AMPs exert their effects through a "physical" mechanism. Specific AMPs have the capability to physically disrupt the cell membrane of bacteria, leading to their demise. Nevertheless, it is crucial to consider the interaction between AMPs and normal cells. AMPs that indiscriminately eliminate all types of cells cannot be employed as pharmaceuticals, as they would also interfere with the regular physiological functions within our bodies. The primary goal of this study is to mitigate the extent of hemolysis caused by the synthesized AMP sequences. Computational methods are employed to identify potential AMP sequences, as this approach proves to be cost-effective compared to the actual synthesis of the sequences. Hence, the early screening of sequences with the potential to induce hemolysis offers distinct advantages. To accomplish this, a variety of ensemble classification models were constructed to ascertain whether a peptide sequence would induce a particular degree of hemolysis under specified peptide concentrations based on the dataset form DBAASP. These models were developed by integrating diverse machine learning techniques, including support vector machines, random forests, AdaBoost, multilayer perceptron, k-nearest neighbors, and XGBoost. In general, the results of this study demonstrate an accuracy of approximately 0.82, 0.8 and 0.81 in predicting whether a peptide sequence is hemolytic under a 10%, 20% and 40% hemolysis threshold, respectvely. |
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sciforum-080697 | Analysis of the skin secretion of Leptodactylus labyrinthicus, the frog’s biohazard protective clothing |
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Javier Alejandro Lopez ,
Raoul Van Damme ,
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N/A |
Show Abstract |
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The secretion of amphibians has been used for many years for different purposes such as religion, culture, agro-economics or even as therapeutic agents. Although these secretions are a mixture of different molecules, especially the active peptides therein have been studied intensively during the past 30 years. Peptides have shown to be able to inhibit the growth of different human microorganisms (making from them good candidates for potential therapeutic agents), and soil microorganisms. The objectives of this work was to analyze the secretion of Leptodactylus labyrinthicus in order to identify bioactive peptides, with emphasis on their biological activity in an ecological context. Results reported here shown that, when fractioning the skin secretion of L. labyrinthicus, the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Burkholderia cepacia were slowly delayed by fractions 8 and 9, but not any delaying effect was observed on Escherichia coli. Interestingly, the whole secretion, have shown a growth promotion for Burkholderia cepacia, but not any effect on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. In addition, two peptides already described in the literature, known as Pentadactylin (which inhibit E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus), and Ocellatin-F1 (which inhibit E.coli and P. aeruginosa), were found in fractions 8 and 9 of this frog skin secretion. In view of these results we hypothesize that, the secretion of Leptodactylus labyrinthicus is a mix of molecules that act in synergy as a bio-regulator mechanism selecting or benefiting microorganisms on the frog’s skin population for ecological, immunological or other purposes not well understood to the moment. |
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sciforum-080926 |
Engineering of a novel skin secretion peptide of an endemic amphibian of Ecuador (Callimedusa ecuatoriana) into promising antimicrobial molecules.
, Stefanny Bonilla-Jiménez ,
Giovanna Morán-Marcillo ,
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Submitted: 15 Sep 2023 Abstract: Show Abstract |
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Stefanny Bonilla-Jiménez ,
Giovanna Morán-Marcillo ,
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N/A |
Show Abstract |
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Amphibian skin secretion has been an important source of broad-spectrum and membrane-targeting antimicrobial peptides, which promise to tackle the antibiotic resistance crisis.Callimedusa ecuatoriana from Ecuador is an example of an unexplored species, that can hold a library of novel chemical scaffolds with antibiotic action. In this study, we report a novel skin peptide (PTR-CE1) identified by molecular cloning of mRNA precursor. We demonstrated that it lacks of antimicrobial activity. So, using the natural sequence of PTR-CE1 as a template, we designed and synthesized two analogs (PTR-CE1a and PTR-CE1b). Both engineered peptides displayed high antibacterial activity, even against the ampicillin-resistant bacterial strains. While PTR-CE1b showed MIC values of 106.5-212.99 mM and less than 10% of damage to red blood cells at 3.02 mM, PTR-CE1a displayed a more potent broad-spectrum effect against all the tested microorganisms, with MIC values of 3.02-12.06 mM, and low hemolytic properties at 6.66 mM. This study highlights the role of the secondary structure for antimicrobial activity and shows how inactive peptides can be useful as a template for the generation of new molecules with high activity and low toxicity. |
List of Authors (82)
Event Awards
Your poster will be automatically qualified for the best poster awards selected by both attendees and conference chairs. Each poster can have only one vote from those involved, cast by presenter, even there are multiple authors listed. Each attendee should email their single vote to Lyssa White (alyswhite@unmc.edu) by Oct 4, 2023 noon USA Central time. Please indicate your name, institution, and a brief reason for nomination in your email entitled “Poster award nomination”. The two best poster awards will be announced after the symposium on Oct 6, 2023.
The Awards
Number of Awards Available: 2
Two best posters (US $250 each) sponsored by Elsevier will be selected based on the votes of attendees as well as the chairs.
Sponsors and Partners
We sincerely invite you to join Antimicrobial Peptides: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Please complete this form to submit a sponsoring proposal, and we will respond regarding next steps if your recommendation fits. Thank you for your interest.
For information regarding sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, please click here.
Local Organizers
Sponsors
S2. Database, design and prediction of antimicrobial peptides
Moderator: Monique van Hoek and Weiwei Zhang
8:30am-8:50am |
Guangshun Wang (University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA) |
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9:00am-9:20am |
Gajendra PS Raghava (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, India) |
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9:30am-9:50am |
Jun Wang (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) |
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9:50am-10:00am |
Symposium Break |
S3. Promising antimicrobial leads and mechanisms of action
Moderator: Gus Wang and Chuck Bevins
10:00am-10:20am |
Kim Lewis (Antimicrobial Discovery Center, Northeastern University, USA) |
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10:30am-10:45am |
Berthony Deslouches (University of Pittsburgh, USA) |
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10:50am-11:05am |
J Evan Haney (Asep Medical, Canada) |
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11:10am-11:25am |
Michaela Wenzel (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden) |
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11:30am-11:45am |
Renee Fleeman (University of South Florida, USA) |
11:50pm-12:45pm |
Symposium Lunch Break followed by a special event (12:45 pm - 1:00 pm) |
S4. Microbiota, antimicrobial peptides and human diseases
Moderator: Chuck Bevins and Sujata Chaudhari
1:00pm-1:20pm SIII Keynote Speaker |
Nita Salzman (Medical College of Wisconsin, USA) The microbiota-AMPs axis may hold the key to novel antimicrobial strategies. |
1:30pm-1:45pm | Bruno Lemaitre (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) Antimicrobial peptides and its role in insect aging and lifespan. |
1:50pm-2:05pm | Delphine Destoumieux-Garzón (University Perpignan Via Domitia, France) Salt-resistant big defensins regulate oyster microbiota. |
2:10pm-2:25pm | Bart Thomma (University of Cologne, Germany) Antimicrobial peptides shape plant microbiota. |
2:30pm-2:45pm | Eugene B. Chang (University of Chicago, USA) A new class of Paneth cell antimicrobial peptides that maintain gut microbial commensalism and innate immunity |
2:50 pm-3:00pm |
Symposium break |
S5. Sunlight, vitamin D, human cathelicidin and antimicrobial role
Moderator: Monique Van Hoek and Gus Wang
3:05 pm-3:25pm SIV Keynote Speaker |
John H White (McGill University, Canada) Vitamin D, human LL-37 and the antiviral connection. |
3:35pm-3:50pm | Jingwei Xie (University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA) Topical delivery of immunomodulating compounds and LL-37 derived peptides for wound management |
3:55pm-4:10pm | Nuch Tanphaichitr (University of Ottawa, Canada) Development of human LL-37 and related peptides into a spermicide/microbicidet. |
S6. Other Topics
If your poster deals with a topic other than the symposium sessions, you can select "Other topics" when uploading your abstract followed by poster uploading.