This book presents an overview of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), their mechanisms of antimicrobial action, other activities, and various problems that must still be overcome regarding their clinical application. Divided into four major parts, the book begins with a general overview of AMPs (Part I), and subsequently discusses the various mechanisms of antimicrobial action and methods for researching them (Part 2). It then addresses a range of activities other than antimicrobial action, such as cell penetration, antisepsis, anticancer, and immunomodulatory activities (Part 3), and explores the prospects of clinical application from various standpoints such as the selective toxicity, design, and discovery of AMPs (Part 4). A huge number of AMPs have been discovered in plants, insects, and vertebrates including humans, and constitute host defense systems against invading pathogenic microorganisms. Consequently, many attempts have been made to utilize AMPs as antibiotics. AMPs could help to solve the urgent problem of drug-resistant bacteria, and are also promising with regard to sepsis and cancer therapy. Gathering a wealth of information, this book will be a bible for all those seeking to develop antibiotics, anti-sepsis, or anticancer agents based on AMPs.

In this text, the small team of expert authors presents the field in a comprehensive and accessible manner that is well suited for students and junior researchers. The result is a highly readable and systematically structured introduction to antimicrobial peptides, their structure, biological function and mode of action. The authors point the way towards a rational design of this potentially highly effective new class of clinical antibiotics on the brink of industrial application. They do this by discussing their design principles, target membranes and structure-activity relationships. The final part of the book describes recent successes in the application of peptides as anticancer agents.

This volume compiles accepted contributions for the 2nd Edition of the Colombian Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Congress CCBCOL, after a rigorous review process in which 54 papers were accepted for publication from 119 submitted contributions. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology are areas of knowledge that have emerged due to advances that have taken place in the Biological Sciences and its integration with Information Sciences. The expansion of projects involving the study of genomes has led the way in the production of vast amounts of sequence data which needs to be organized, analyzed and stored to understand phenomena associated with living organisms related to their evolution, behavior in different ecosystems, and the development of applications that can be derived from this analysis.

In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed cancer as the second leading cause of death and highlighted antimicrobial resistance as “a key global health challenge” that may, in a worst case scenario, lead to an annual death toll of 10 million by 2050, which would exceed predicted cancer deaths by 20%. Novel promising therapeutic options to reduce morbidity and mortality of both infectious microbial diseases and cancer are being developed based on antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), i.e., evolutionary proven antibiotics that also possess anti-cancer activities. Intriguingly, AMPs and anti-cancer peptides (ACPs) rely typically on novel mechanisms and cellular targets not used by current antibiotics or chemotherapeutics. Initiated by presentations at the International Meeting of Antimicrobial Peptides in 2016 (IMAP 2016), hosted at Leipzig University, Germany, this book compiles the most recent strategies and promising lead compounds for treating multi- and pan-resistant microbes and chemo-resistant cancer cells in fourteen different chapters representing leading research groups from five different continents. In this respect, the book shall stimulate new avenues of thinking and strategies in tackling forthcoming antimicrobial and cancer resistance health threats with the hope that the scenarios recently reported by the WHO will never eventuate.

This book reflects the drug development community’s interest in proteomics methods by providing researchers with the necessary knowledge for the implementation of a number of basic experimental and bioinformatics protocols in the drug discovery research laboratory. The focus of the collection is on select protocols and methodologies that address the analysis of post-translational modifications, targeted protein quantification, protein-protein, protein-lipid, or protein-ATP interactions, in silico lead identification, protein arrays, tissue and cell extract preparation, labeling, chemoproteomics, and drug efficacy assessment. Emphasis was placed not just on methods that describe large-scale protein analysis, but also on ones that are amenable to future implementation in a high-throughput format. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Practical and authoritative, Proteomics for Drug Discovery: Methods and Protocols aims to provide a deep knowledge of the fundamentals of disease biology as well the means that were developed for probing the complex biological milieu.

Metallosurfactants Provides up-to-date coverage of the synthesis, properties, and applications of metallosurfactants Metallosurfactants: From Fundamentals to Catalytic and Biomedical Applications is a thorough introduction to amphiphilic compounds that allow to incorporate metal ions in the surfactant system. This comprehensive reference and guide describes the fundamentals of metal surfactant complexes, highlights recent advances in the field, and explores current and future applications and research areas. Gradually progressing from basic to advanced topics, the authors first explain the classification and characterization of metallosurfactants before delving into more complex concepts and various catalytic, sensing, and biomedical applications. The book begins with coverage of the synthesis of metallosurfactants and their surface, interfacial, and aggregation behavior. Subsequent chapters discuss applications of metallosurfactants in areas such as drug delivery, molecular machines, transfection, nanoparticle synthesis, and carbon monoxide-releasing molecules (CORMs). Other topics include the use of metallosurfactants as catalysts in organic reactions, and as anticancer and antimicrobial agents in drug delivery and formulation. This unique reference Provides an overview of the structure-function relationship, synthesis methods, and characterization of metallosurfactants Reviews current trends in metallosurfactant development and research Examines the use of metallosurfactants in a wide range of reactions, including esterolytic reactions and hydrogen generation Discusses advanced applications of metallosurfactants, e.g. as nanoreactors for nanoparticle synthesis, non-viral transfection vectors, and sensors Metallosurfactants: From Fundamentals to Catalytic and Biomedical Applications is an excellent introduction to the growing field of metallosurfactant chemistry as well as a concise, highly useful reference for researchers and scientists in both academia and industry.

The Yearbook compiles the most recent developments in experimental and clinical research and practice in one comprehensive reference book. The chapters are written by well recognized experts in the field of intensive care and emergency medicine. It is addressed to everyone involved in internal medicine, anesthesia, surgery, pediatrics, intensive care and emergency medicine.

Therapeutic Peptides: Methods and Protocols features biological methods for the preparation of peptide phage display libraries using both filamentous and lytic phage. With contributions from renowned authors in the field, the book also explores selection and screening of the prepared peptide libraries for peptides with the desired function and the subsequent characterization of the identified peptides. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Practical and dependable, Therapeutic Peptides: Methods and Protocols is an ideal guide for researchers from all backgrounds seeking methods for the identification of therapeutic peptide candidates.