Mechanisms and Application: Realizing the Potential of Antimicrobial Host Defense Peptides for Human and Veterinary Medicine

Since their discovery in the 1980s, Antimicrobial / Host Defense Peptides (AMPs) have been found to be pivotal to host defense against infection, representing a fundamentally important component of the immune system widely conserved across plants and animals. In addition to broad spectrum microbicidal activity against bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, AMPs have been found to be key modulators of immunity and inflammation, playing critical roles in innate immunity and bridging innate and adaptive immune systems. These peptides can therefore inform the development of novel preventative and therapeutic interventional approaches; combining direct microbicidal function with an ability to modify key host defenses, providing indirect complementation with particular significance for antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection.

AMPs have been studied in health and found to be important in a wide range of specific disease processes. The challenge for the field is now to realize the potential for AMPs in human and veterinary medicine. This is the focus of the 2019 Gordon Conference on Antimicrobial Peptides: utilizing our knowledge of mechanisms of AMP action, and mining species diversity to advance application to global infection challenges, including the threat of antimicrobial resistance, and sharing experience of translating fundamental research to commercial development and clinical practice. These aspects will be discussed by the foremost international experts in the field; with invited speakers from academia, industry and clinical practice, talks chosen from submitted abstracts, poster presentations, and informal networking, promoted by the collegial atmosphere of this fabulous biennial GRC Conference.