College of Medicine
University of Nebraska Medical Center
University of Nebraska Medical Center

2026 Antimicrobial Peptide Conference

Antimicrobial Peptides: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow II

Registration is open for the second antimicrobial peptide conference, a free, one-day Zoom event on Oct. 19. The conference includes presentations from leading figures in antimicrobial peptide research from around the world. Conference chairs are Gus Wang, Chuck Bevins and Monique van Hoek.

Click here to register

Schedule

Welcoming remarks: 8 a.m., Dr. Joseph Khoury, professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology

Session I: Discovery, design and applications of AMPs

  • 8:15 to 8:45 a.m., TBA
  • 8:45 to 9:15 a.m., Colin Hill (University College Cork, Ireland), Bacterial lantibiotics as antibiotics?
  • 9:15 to 9:45 a.m., Maria Luisa Mangoni (Universita La Sapienza, Italy), European amphibian antimicrobial peptides: Discovery and applications
  • 9:45 to 10:15 a.m., Karin Thevissen (Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, Belgium), Plant defensins: Discovery and applications

Morning break: 10:15 to 10:30 a.m.

Session II: History of antimicrobial peptide discovery

  • 10:30 to 11 a.m., Michael Zasloff (Georgetown University, USA), My discovery of magainins and their translational research experiences
  • 11 to 11:30 a.m., Tomas Ganz (University of California Los Angeles, USA), The discovery of human alpha-defensins
  • 11:30 a.m. to noon, Charles L. Bevins (University of California Davis, USA), Reflections on defensin discoveries
  • Noon to 12:30 p.m., Robert Hancock (University of British Columbia, Canada), Host defense peptides: My perspective

Lunch break: 12:30 to 1 p.m.

Session III: AI prediction of antimicrobial peptides

  • 1 to 1:30 p.m., Octavio Luiz Franco (Universidade Catolica Dom Bosco, Brazil), In silico discovery of antimicrobial peptides
  • 1:30 to 2 p.m., Monique van Hoek (George Mason University, USA), Peptide sensing and phenotypic escape: D-GATR-3, GraRS and Trailing Susceptibility in MRSA
  • 2 to 2:30 p.m., Cesar de la Fuente (University of Pennsylvania, USA), Accelerating antibiotic discovery with AI
  • 2:30 to 3 p.m., Inanc Birol (University of British Columbia, Canada), Deep learning prediction of antimicrobial peptides

Afternoon break: 3 to 3:15 p.m.

Session IV: Peptide drugs for challenging diseases

  • 3:15 to 3:45 p.m., Michael E. Selsted (University of Southern California, USA), Theta-defensins from mammals
  • 3:45 to 4:15 p.m., William Shafer (Emory University, USA), Gonorrhea, antimicrobial peptides and decreased susceptibility mechanisms impacting clinically used antibiotics
  • 4:15 to 4:45 p.m., Leslie M. Hicks (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), Mass spectrometry discovery of natural antimicrobial peptides
  • 4:45 to 5:15 p.m., David Craik (The University of Queensland, Australia), Discovery of cyclotides as peptide therapeutics

Closing remarks: 5:15 p.m.