Proceedings of the symposium in June 2013 on Big Island, Hawaii

Proceedings of the symposium in June 2013 in Big Island, Hawaii

The American Peptide Society (APS) provides a forum for advancing and promoting knowledge of the chemistry and biology of peptides. The approximately one thousand members of the Society come from North America and from more than thirty other countries throughout the world. Establishment of the APS was a result of the rapid worldwide growth that has occurred in peptide-related research, and of the increasing interaction of peptide scientists with virtually all fields of science. Peptides for Youth: The Proceedings of the the 20th American Peptide Symposium will highlight many of the recent developments in peptide science, with a particular emphasis on how these advances are being applied to basic problems in biology and medicine. The 20th American Peptide Symposium will take place June 26 - 30, 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

This volume contains the proceedings of the Second International Peptide Symposium and the Seventeenth American Peptide Symposium, held on 9-14 June, 2001, at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, California. The biennial meeting was held under the auspices of the American Peptide Society. In addition to the main Symposium, we were honored to have the Merrifield Satellite Symposium, honoring Bruce Merrifield's accomplishments on his 80th birthday. Over 1250 participants from around the world attended the lectures, posters, and exhibits. Reflecting the international nature of the Symposium, there were participants from 37 countries in attendance. In addition to the 75 plenary lectures, there were over 575 poster presentations, and 70 commercial exhibits as well as booths from the American, Australian, Chinese, European, and Japanese Peptide Societies. These proceedings include plenary lectures and oral and poster presentations collected from a wide diversity of topics providing a truly comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the field of peptide science. This publication contains essential reference information for researchers active in peptide science.

“Have you tried peptides? Small proteins, the best in the land! Won’t you try peptides? Keep all your body processes in hand! For labor and lactation oxytocin you must buy! Enkephalin always gives a good runner’s high! So won’t you try peptides? Small proteins, the best in the land!” The above words [1], penned by Gary Gisselman to open Peptide Ångst: La Triviata, the opera which made its world premiere on July 1, 1999, also serve as a fitting charge to the th 16 American Peptide Symposium. This latest edition of a premier biennial series was held under the auspices of the American Peptide Society, June 26–July 1, 1999, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis,Minnesota, with the undersigned serving as Co-Chairs. The fortunate coincidence of the calendar allowed us to set as the theme “Peptides for the New Millennium”, and in our judgment, the approximately 1200 participants [2] who converged in the Twin Cities from academic and industrial institutions in 36 countries were treated to an exciting and stimulating conference that left most everyone with an enthusiastic vision for the future of our field. The present Proceedings volume should serve as a handy reference source and succinct snapshot of peptide science at essentially its century mark – the clock having started with the initial contributions of Emil Fischer and Th. Curtius.

In the late 1980s, Peptide Societies were established in Europe, the United States, and Japan, and more recently, in the Asian and the Pacific Rim regions including Australia, China, and Korea. At the time of the establishment of the American, European and Japanese Peptide Societies, the International Liaison Organizing Committee representing these Peptide Societies, along with the Australian Peptide Society, began discussions for holding international confer ences which would supercede or be held in lieu of the numerous individual meetings, held by the peptide societies of each individual country or region. The representative of the Chinese Peptide Society participated in these discus sion in the International Liaison Organizing Committee at the meeting of the American Peptide Symposium in Nashville, in June 1997. After lengthy discus sions over several years, we agreed to organize and host the International Peptide Symposium in Japan. The First International Peptide Symposium (IPS’97) was held on November 30–December 5, 1997, in Kyoto, and was co sponsored by four Peptide Societies. The attendance at this Symposium was 550 participants, including representatives from 32 different countries. We were very pleased with this outcome and anticipate an even larger attendance for forthcoming Symposia in future years. The revolution and advances in science and technology during the past two decades has caused traditional peptide chemistry to expand to peptide science, spreading from physical science to biology, pharmacology, and medicine.

The Eleventh American Peptide Symposium was held on the San Diego campus of the University of California in picturesque La Jolla on July 9-14, 1989. More than 1100 participants from around the world came to attend a scientific program comprised of an assortment of oral presentations, posters and exhibits. Most rewarding to us was the regular attendance at all the scientific sessions by our registered guests despite the beautiful scenery offered by La Jolla and San Diego county. Indeed for all of us, the purpose of the biennial American Peptide Symposium is to try to keep up with a fast evolving and fascinating field. The goal of the proceedings of these meetings is to provide the scientific community unable to attend some or all of the Eleventh American Peptide Symposium with a synopsis of current results in peptide research. Of 65 oral presentations and approximately 390 poster displays, the Program Committee selected 393 articles for publication. A few manuscripts by distinguished invited speakers were unfortunately not received in time to appear in these proceedings. All manuscripts herein were selected on the basis of their originality at the time of presentation and their significance in the development of peptide-related research. As in the past, this Eleventh meeting brought together scientists with a wide range of expertise, which was harnessed to address and solve basic as well as applied scientific problems in broad areas.