Invited Speaker

Phylomer Libraries as a Rich Source of Potent Bioactive Peptides
Paul Watt
Australia

Phylomers are a new class of peptide derived from biodiverse genomic fragments of archael and bacterial species [Watt PM (2006) Nature Biotechnology 24 (2):177-83]. Phylomer peptide libraries can exhibit a superior quality and quantity of candidates, due to an evolutionary selection for stable structures compatible with target proteins. Phylomers can be identified in screens against intracellular or extracellular targets, or used to identify targets directly in Phenotypic screens. Phylomers will be described with potent antimicrobial activity against clinical isolates of multi-drug resistant microorganisms. In addition, potent blockers of the pro-inflammatory target CD40Ligand will be presented with picomolar primary affinities, even before any sequence maturation.