From the Co-Chairs of the 2011 APS

The American Peptide Society returned its Symposium

to sunny San Diego following trips to Montreal,

Quebec and Bloomington, Indiana. The theme of

this 22nd Symposium was ‘‘Building Bridges’’ symbol-

izing the important role that peptide science

currently plays in so many other disciplines. The program of

this Symposium explored the potential impact of peptides in

scientific fields that have yet to fully realize the utility of these

wonderful molecules. The Symposium brought together

investigators of varying backgrounds and fostered stimulat-

ing discussions, and hopefully catalyzed future multidiscipli-

nary collaborations.

Young investigators are an important element of our Soci-

ety and their enthusiasm was clearly displayed through the

unexpected enrollment of over 200 students in the poster

competition. Many of these students also participated in a

new Symposium event: Rapid-Fire oral poster presentations

(3 slides, 5 min each) held during the first two lunch breaks

of the Symposium. In addition, the main program featured

Bert Schram Young Investigator oral presentations, highlight-

ing the work of several of our most promising young

researchers in peptide science. We were pleased to be able to

support the attendance of many of these young scientists

through approximately $50,000 in travel grants. In addition,

the Bert Schram foundation helped to support a round-table

professional development luncheon followed by a stimulating

presentation and discussion on the future of peptide science.

The scientific program for 2011 was filled with distin-

guished lectures delivered by some of the most prominent

peptide scientists in the world. The symposium was opened

with an unexpected distinguished lecture by Richard

Houghten and closed with the chemistry and philosophy of

Barry Sharpless. Keeping with the Symposium theme, Build-

ing Bridges, approximately 57 of the 78 speakers had not pre-

viously presented their work at the APS, and many were

attending our conference for the first time in their career.

The Symposium highlighted presentations from APS award

winners, including Richard DiMarchi (Merrifield Award),

Jeffery Kelly (Makineni Award), Victor Hruby (Goodman

Award) and, for the first time at the APS Symposium, the

two duVigneau Award winners, Morten Meldal and

Fernando Albericio. The final session of the symposium,

Building Bridges, was dedicated to emerging areas not tradi-

tionally associated with the peptide field such as renewable

biofuels and synthetic biology,

The meeting was held at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina

on Harbor Island, which served as an outstanding venue to

facilitate scientific interaction by mixing posters, exhibitors

and social and professional networking. The opening recep-

tion was held on the hotel’s front lawn overlooking the beau-

tiful San Diego Harbor and the iconic Coronado Bay Bridge.

Following San Diego APS tradition, the speakers’ dinner was

held at the Scripps Aquarium where attendees were treated to

a beautiful sunset overlooking the shores of La Jolla. In

between sessions, attendees enjoyed several beautiful pools, a

picturesque harbor, baseball games, casino trips, excellent

restaurants and prime views of an evening sailing regatta in

San Diego Bay. The meeting was capped with the closing

banquet that included dinner and dancing.

We are deeply indebted to numerous individuals who

assisted in the organization, execution and funding of the

meeting, including members of the Scientific Committee, Stu-

dent Affairs Committee and Travel Award Committee. It was

our pleasure and honor to have chaired this Symposium and

with the best of luck to the organizers of the 2013 Symposium.

PHILIP DAWSON

Co-Chair

JOEL SCHNEIDER

Co-Chair

Editorial

Published online in Wiley Online Library(wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/bip.21727VVC 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PeptideScience Volume 96 / Number 6 iii