THE EURbpEAN PEPTIDE SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

Issue Number 20, 1 January 1999

A LETTER FROM THE NEW CHAIRMAN

Professor Raniero Rocchi. EPS Chairman for 1998-2002.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I consider it a great honour to be apPointed as the Chairman of the European Peptide Society for the next four years and, on this occasion, it is my pleasure and my privilege, also on behalf of the Members of the Society, to express my sincere thanks and my gratitude to those who have worked so hard and done excellent service for the Society in these last years and are now finishing their duties.

In particular my thanks go to Dietrich Brandenburg, the retiring Chairman, whose brilliant and unremitting activity has contributed so much to the development and achievement of our Society. My warm thanks go also to the other retiring members of both the Executive Committee and the Council for their important contributions to the life and development of the Society. Very special thanks go to Geoffrey Young, Our Emeritus Chairman, who promised to remain active in the Society and whose untiring service, ability and diplomacy were essential for founding and for guiding the first steps of EPS.

The Members of the Society now number over 1200 from some 30 different countries; the biennial European Peptide Symposia represent an excellent stage for presenting the many and various aspects of peptide research , and our journal, the Journal of Peptide Science, is continuously improving. On this subject , J want to express to Prof. Schneider, who will retire as Editor-in-Chief at the end of this year, the sincere thanks of the entire Society for his marvellous work successfully guiding the first years of the Journal. From January 1st 1999, Dr John H Jones will take over as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for 5 years and I want to express to him our deep gratitude for accepting to take this challenging commitment

addition to his excellent work as Editor of the Newsletter.

The growing interest in peptides is clearly reflected by the large number of Peptide Societies and by the increasing number of meetings and symposia dedicated to the many different aspects of peptide chemistry and biology, taking place all over the world. Preservation of the close connections between our Society and the American, Australian and Japanese Societies and the establishing of similar relationships with all other Societies, without affecting the unique character and structure of the EPS, is one of our aims for the future.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Executive Committee who proposed my name for the role of Chairman of the Society and to all the members of the Council who were so kind to confirm my nomination. I am not a newcomer in the peptide world, having attended practically all of the European Peptide Symposia since the Athens meeting in 1963. I was involved in helping my teacher and dear friend Emesto Scoffone in the organization of the Abano meeting in 1969, and I had the honor of representing Italy in the European Peptide Committee from 1981 to 1994. However I confess that when I received the call from Dietrich Brandenburg asking for my availability to be a candidate for EPS Chairman, I was very surprised by the completely unexpected proposal. It was unexpected but very attractive and stimulating and, after some doubt and hesitations, I decided to accept this honor. I will do my best to answer your expectations and to continue the excellent work done by Geoffrey Young and Dietrich Brandenburg. Clearly the help of their experience and the active participation of both the Executive Committee and the entire Council will be essential for further growth and development of the various activities of our Society. I will rely very much on this absolutely necessary support.

Now let me express to Dr Sandor Bajusz , to Professor Ferenc Hudecz and to the entire staff of their collaborators, our sincere compliments for the excellen t organization of EPS-25 . Budapest offered a marvellous frame to a meeting which was very successful for the quality of the scientific contributions as well as fo r the warm hospitality offered us by our Hungarian friends and for the high quality of the social events we enjoyed during the Symposium.

Finally, on behalf of all of the Society, I want to express our thanks, and our best wishes for a very successful meeting, to Jean Martinez for accepting the challenge of organizing EPS-26 in Montpellier.

Thanks again to all of you.

Raniero Rocchi

EPS-25

BUDAPEST

EPS-25 was staged at the Liget Congress Centre in the heart of Budapest, 30 August - 4 September 1998. Over 700 peptide scientists from nearly 40 countries attended. The previous Hungarian EPS, EPS-7 (1964) had about 90 delegates, who were invited guests of the Academy of Sciences.

The Chairman of the 1998 Symposium was Dr Sandor Bajuszi the Organising Secretary of EPS-7 , Professor Kalman Medzihradszky was also in the official party at the opening ceremony on the first evening, together with other distinguished figures including Professor Norbert Kr06 (representing the Hungarian Government), Professor Bruce Merrifield and Professor Miklos Bodanszky. The Leonidas Zervas Award (sponsored by Bachem) was

Dr Sandor Bajusz. EP5-25 Chairman. a t the opening ceremony.

... =4Uf 5'.' Walking by the shore of Lake Balaton , during EPS·7.

Taken by Geoffre y Young. Left to right: Re Sheppard, Klaus Lubke and JS Morle y,

presented to Professor Annette Beck-Sickinger by Dr Rolf Nyfeler and the Josef Rudinger Memorial Lecture Award (sponsored by PolyPeptide Laboratories) was presented to Professor Shumpei Sakakibara by Dr Lars Andersson; the outgoing Chairman of the Society, Professor Dietrich Brandenburg , made a particular point of thanking PolyPeptide Laboratories and Sachem warmly for their sponsorship .

Professor Kalman Medzhiradszky, EPS-7 Organising Secretary, with Professor Hedvig

Medzhiradszky-Schweiger.

Shumpei Sakakibara delivered his Josef Rudinger Lecture immediately after the opening formalities , recalling at the outset a 1966 visit he had made to see that great man in Prague. To our delight he was able to show an excellent photograph of him holding a clever allegorical cartoon in which Dr Peptide Chemist, hoping to win Miss Optical Purity , must first tackle the many-headed monster Acyl Azide. Dr E Rudinger remembers that the cartoon was conceived by Josef Rudinger but drawn by Dr Petr Hahn, a non-chemical friend. Shumpei then proceeded to outline the synthetic assault he has successfully made with his colleagues on another complex monster, the green fluorescent protein of the jellyfish Aequorea victoria which is a 238-residue single chain protein with two Cys{H) residues and a backbone modified at one point by a subtle spontaneous post­translational cyclisation and oxidation. Some of the key details of this amazing feat were described by Professor Terutoshi

Kimura on the Tuesday. This was the chemical highlight of the Symposium, which had a rich programme. The abstracts book was printed as a special issue of the Journal of Peptide Science, a welcome novelty: the proceedings, Pep tides 1998, will be published rapidly by Akademiai Kiad6 , Budapest (editors S Bajusz and F Hudecz).

Part of the first full day's programme was in honour of Professor Miklos Bodanszky, founder of peptide chemistry in Hungary and one of the subject's sages. Michael Szelke's reminiscences were especially evocative. As a Bodanszky co­worker 1952-5, he had taken part in one of the earliest oxytocin syntheses. It was an heroic enterprise. All the starting materials had to be made from scratch, and optically pure (-amino acids had to be isolated from natural sources:

o .... , , ..• co .... a.. v CO-NJ

and transition-state analogues). Miklos Bodanszky also left Hungary at that time, to complete his distinguished career in the United States. How the pendulum of history swings! Who could have imagined in 1956 that the young patriotic fugitive would one day return to be at the podium and pay tribute to his mentor, both of them honoured guests in their native land?

The Symposium had some 45 oral presentations, and ten times as many again posters - on pretty well the whole range of peptide science - were displayed. As well as much lively informal discussion, there was an excellent exhibition (34 exhibitors; ably organised by Dr G Dib6) th rough which many mutually valuable contacts were doubtless made or

Professor Josef Rudinger with the cartoon,1966

L -Cys, for example by hydrolYSiS of hair swept up from the floors of Budapest barber shops Cafter removal of gross contaminants such as cigarette ends and chewing gum ") . Shortly after that he took part in another heroic enterprise, the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, and fled to England where he has had a distinguished career in medicinal chemistry {including pioneer work on peptidomimetics

Professor Bodanszky with his s omet im e co-worker Jean Martin ez,

EPS-26 Chairman_

Professor Bodanszky with Micha e l , . Szelke. ..,

Symposium Banquet in the Hotel Gellert. The Council even had the privilege of meeting and dining in the Academy of Sciences, where the scientific proceedings of EPS-7 had taken place 34 years ago. In welcoming us there , Sandor Bajusz explained that one of the Academy's

Count Istvan Szechenyi.

renewed. And there was also a Job Fair at which there were both buyers and sellers. On the lighter side, the real World Cup of 1998 was organised on the Thursday evening: there is a separate report on that below.

Budapest is a city of great beauty and interest: there were opportuni ties (principally on the Wednesday) to savour its delights, and those with time and dollars had the choice of several day-long tours further afield . Your Editor sadly had not the time to go on any of these tours (and was inclined to be mean with his dollars , to boot) and so must leave to your imagination the pleasures of Eger, Lake Balaton , the Danube Bend, the Great Plain, etc. The splendour and style of Budapest also asserted itself at other points - the Welcome Reception in the National Gallery (the view over the river and lit-up city from outside afterwards was stunning), and the

The Fishennens ' Bastion on the walls of Buda Castle District, inspiration for the EP5-25 logo.

Professor Ferenc Hudecz, EPS-25 Organising Secre tary.

founding fathers and benefactors was the great Hungarian philanthropist Count Istvan Szechenyi{l791-1860), after whom the nearby suspension bridge is named. His spirit , Sandor mused, would be "benevolent to the Symposium". And so it was. The whole thing was an undoubted great success for which sandor and all his helpers - most especially the Secretary of the Organising Committee, Professor Ferenc Hudecz, received well-deserved warm congratulations and thanks.

Contributed by the Editor

THE REAL WORLD CUP OF 1998

HAtAI YENIII

EPS Soccer 1998. Lajos BaUispiri is standing in the centre, with Ferenc Pus kas and Maurice Manning on his left .

The Manning & BalaspirHnspired EPS soccer tradition was duly observed at EPS-2S, under the aegis as ever of its 1986 Founders. There was a three-way competition on the Thursday - played indoors because of heavy rain (better for the fans, it was said) - between Hungary, Europe and the Rest of the World. The Rest beat Europe 2: 1 and Hungary 5: 1; Europe beal Hungary 3: 1 (maybe they were being polite to foreign scientists?). The referee was Ferenc Puskas, possibly the greatest footballer of all time and certainly mOTe

famous than any peptide scientist there has ever been (but then soccer is a more popular sport than peptide science). At the Symposium Banquet, a ball signed, inter alia , by Puskas was presented to Maurice Manning, Captain and Coach of the victorious team. It is anticipated that the tradition will continue at EPS·26.

Roger Epton .

Compiled from material provided by Lajos Bal6spiri

VACCINE STRATEGIES An international Symposium entitled Advances in Peptide, Protein and Nucleic Acid Vaccine Strategies was held 29th June· 2nd July 1998 at the University of Oxford (UK). It was organised under the auspices of the UK BS/RSC Protein and Peptide Science Group and the European Peptide Society. Roger Epton was the Programme Co-ordinator (and organiser­genera!) ; Pravin TP Kaumaya was Symposium Chairman. With a picturesque residential base in SI John's College (founded 1555, quite old, but not ancient , by Oxford standards), the scientific sessions mostly took place in the Victorian Gothic University Museum, where dinosaur skeletons dominate the collections, which include the pathetic remnants of a dodo. The topics covered included: epitope-based vaccines; CTL-based vaccines; Iipopeptides; adjuvant and vaccine delivery systems; genetically engineered vaccines; viral, bacterial and cancer vaccines; and peptide-MHC interaction. The delegate list ran to about 150. inte rnational in composition but with a European bias of about 75%. A special feature was a session devoted to Young Investigator Award

Lectures: winners were Kimberly Denis-Mize (Ohio State University), Hoebert S Hiemstra (Leiden University), Theophanis Kanellos (Royal Vetinerary College, London), Estelle Loing (Institut Pasteur, Lille), and Leslie J Matthews (University of Missouri) . The proceedings will appear in a special issue of the Elsevier journal Vaccine (ISSN 0264-410X). While no defini te plans have yet been made, there was a general feeling that this important area could sustain and benefit from a series of symposia following on from this one, perhaps alternating between North America and Europe.

Compiled by the Editor

THE 6th NAPLES WORKSHOP ON BIOACTIVE PEPTIDES

The 6th Naples Workshop on Bioactive Peptides was held on the Island of Capri in the Gulf of Napoli , 12-15 July 1998, with an attendance of 130 peptide scientists from all over the world. It was organised by the Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sui Peptidi Bioattivi (CIRPEB) of the University of Napoli "Federico II ", and by the Biocrystallography Research Centre and the ICMIB of the CNR of Italy. It was under the auspices of the European Peptide SOciety, the American Peptide Society and the Regione Campania, Assessorato Pubblica Istruzione, Cultura e Ricerca Scientifica.

The acronym '·CAPRI", Conformat ion Activity in Peptides: Relationships and Interactions encapsulates the scientific content of the lectures and poster presentations. As for previous workshops, the programme offered eight Main Lectures, given by distinguished scientists in peptide and protein chemistry , and two Round Tables on ''The Structural and Conformational Behaviour of Peptides" and on ''The Search of a Bioactive Conformation". In the Round Tables, short oral presentations were given by authors selected by the Scientific Committee from the presenters of the 65 posters.

The opening lecture, given by K WUthrich (ZOrich) was centred on the conformational polymorphism of peptides and proteins in neurodegenerative diseases. The fascinating hypothesis that a group of lethal diseases such as prion diseases or transmittable spongiform encephalopathies could be linked entirely with a change of conformation of a natural protein chain was presented. Conformational changes in serine proteinase inhibitors were discussed by A Lesk (Cambridge, UK) , who described some of the target regions of the molecules and efforts to design ligands that would help control these conformational changes. R Hilgenfeld (Jena) lectured on the differences in fast- and long-acting insulins, presenting in masterly style the results of an extensive crystallographic study on controlling insulin bioavailability by crystal contact engineering. A simplified model of peptide and protein folding was presented by M Karplus (Cambridge, USA), while A Pastore (London) discussed some molecular insights into the fragile X syndrome, an X-linked dominant disorder and the most frequent heritable cause of mental retardation in man. M Bolognesi (Genoa) gave a lecture on the structure and _..-,...,. ..... mechanism of enzymes involved in GDP-L-fucose biosynthesis, presenting the crystal structure of GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/ reductase. WL Duax (Buffalo) illustrated sophisticated and accurate conformational studies on the ion selectivity and mechanism of transport of membrane channel forming antibiotics such as the gramicidin 0 family. Finally, M Mutter (Lausanne) in his stimulating and enjoyable lecture gave a wide-ranging review of the template­assembled synthetic proteins concept rr ASP) in its various applications.

The Capri Workshop proved to be once again a highly successful forum for the exchange of ideas and a great opportunity to learn about and discuss several different peptide and protein systems with their implications in biological and pharmaceutical investigations.

Contributed by Ettore Benedet ti

Capri 1998. Seated (left to "';ght): Zelda Goodman, Murray

Goodman, Anita Naider. Standing: Fred Naider. Annarita Tamponi·Benedetti, Ettore Ben ed e tti a nd

Ch arles De be r.

1998 CHINESE PEPTIDE SYMPOSIUM Lanzhou, the capital of the Gansu Province in China"s central north , was the host city of the 5th International Chinese Peptide Symposium (CPS-98l held from 14 to 17 J uly 1998. The City, with a popula tion of 2.5 million, is thinly stretched along the banks of the majestic Yellow River and flanked on both sides by tall mountains. It was originally founded more than 3,000 years ago and became a key trading post along the famed Silk Road which originated at nearby X'ian in the east and ended at the Roman Empire in the west. Today the City is an important hub of petrochemical industries and agriculture. Its University, where the Symposium was held, is one of the most highly regarded in the country. The City has wo ancient temples worth visiting, one lay on the stopes of the Five Springs Mountain and the impressive Red Tower Temple was built where the first bridge was constructed across the wild waters of the Yellow River. During the meeting a respectful visit was paid to the nearby Mother of the Yellow River, an impressive sculpture picturing the protector of the Yellow River water essential to all culture in northern China.

Professor Rui Wang.

Under the very able co-chairmanship of Professors Xiao-Yu Hu and Rui Wang, both from the University 's Department of Biology, together with sterling support from Professor J ames Tam and the local programme committee, an excellent scientific programme was prepared which covered all the key areas of modern peptide research. More than 150 delegates, including about 30 from abroad, were treated to 4 1 ora l and 48 poster presentations. James Tam, Victor Hruby and Jean Martinez made excellent keynote presentations on, respectively , orthogonal ligation of free peptides, peptide agonist design, and the preparation of peptide aldehydes. These were fo llowed by presentations held under the follOWing headings: Peptide Chemistry Methodology, Bioactive Peptides, Peptidomimetics, Glycol Phosphopeptides and Peptide Vaccines, Pe ptide Diversity, Peptide Structure and Conformation, and Other Research.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the CPS-98 Cathay Award was presented jointly to Professors Kit Lam (Arizona Cancer Centre, USA) and Yun-hua Ye (Department of Chemistry, Peking University) for their outstanding contributions to peptide research and for helping to further develop Chinese peptide science. In addition , four young Chinese peptide researchers, Xiao-Wu Yang, Cao Yu, Xiao-Xu li , and Yan-Mei li, each received a Zhonghe Award in recognition of their excellent poster or oral presentations.

The delegates were able to sample the superb local cuisine , including beef noodles in spicy soup (niUrou mUm), not only in the Jingchen conference hotel but also in the numerous restaurants and food stalls in the nearby night street markets. On one evening, a demonstration of local song, dance and music was prOVided. Particularly outstanding was the performance by a soloist on the erhu, a traditional two-stringed fiddle which produces a rich variety of sounds. On another occasion, the delegates were transported (na il bitingly!) by minibuses along a narrow, steeply ascending road to the top of nearby Wuquan Shan Gongyuan (Five Springs Mountain) which allowed superb sunset views of the City and Yellow River far below.

The next Symposium in the series will be held in Shanghai in July 2000. Further details will be given in later editions of the EPS Newslette r.

Contribu ted by John D Wade and Morten Me/dal

EPI-6 Peptide research is becoming consolida ted in the Iberian Peninsula, to judge by the growing attendance and wider scope of the Iberian Peptide Meeting (EPI, Encuentro Pe ptfdico Iberica). The meeting reached its sixth edition in ten years on 'February 11-14, 1998, at the imposing location of EI £SCoria l, near Madrid. Organised by the peptidomimetics group headed by Professor MT Garcia-L6pez a t the Institute of Medicina l Chemistry (CSIC, Madrid) , EPI-6 was attended by over ninety pa rticipants, representing seventeen public research groups from Spain, two from Portugal, as well as two Spanish companies (lipotec, Pharmamar) actively engaged in peptide research and production. The chemical emphasis of previous editions (synthesis, peptidomimetics, libraries) was retained, but the increasing number of communications on peptide-protein structure and biopharmacology provided a broader , more interdisciplinary atmosphere than before. EPI-7 is planned for February 2000 in AUea, on the (hopefully) sunny Mediterranean coast.

Contributed by Dauid Andreu

JPS-35

The 35th Japanese Peptide Symposium was held in Saga (Kyushu Island) from 7-9 October 1998. The series was initiated by Professor Akabori in 1962 as a specialised Symposium for a limited number of peptide chemists th roughout Japan. The annual Peptide Symposium in Japan has shown constant growth since then. The recent Symposia, including JPS-35, have embraced topics which are no longer limited to peptide chemistry but cover a wide range of peptide-related aspects of chemistry, molecular biology, biophysics , medicine, and pharmacology. At JPS·35 a total of 123 papers (31 oral. 92 posters) were presented by both Japanese and guest scientists. For more information about the details of the Symposium programme please visit our homepage at: http://peptide.chem.saga-u.ac.jp/ or http://133.49. 10. 108/

The quality and quantity of this year 's presentations by both experienced and novice peptide scientists point to a promising future for peptide science in Japan. From this year, to signal the growing nature and wide range of the peptide-related research involved, the title of the Proceedings of the Symposium is to be changed from Peptide Chemistry to Peptide Science. We hope that the Japanese Peptide Symposia will continue to be a fertile ground for international co-operation between peptide scientists th roughout the world.

Contributed by Michio Kondo Chairman, JPS-35

PEPTIDES IN SWITZERLAND

The Newsletter has carried an occasional series entitled Peptides in (a Country], and Part I of Pep tides in Switzerland, entitled Peptides and the Swiss Chemica/ Industry; a Success Story, by Rudolph Andreatta , appeared in Newsletter 18. February 1998. We now present Part II , kindly assembled, introduced, and partly written by Alex Eberle.

PEPTIDE RESEARCH AT SWISS UNIVERSITIES

The participants, EPS-3, Base l, 1960.

A. Me ye,. (1), D S eile ,. (2). R Hugu enin (3 ), J Franz (4), M Fe u,.e,. (5). P Sie ber (6). H Zube ,. (7), K Vogle ,. (8), St Goldschmidt (9), DF Elliott (10), M Bodanszky (11), RA Bo issonnas (12). RO Stude ,. (1 3). St Guttmann (14). H De te ,.mann (I S ). Th Wie land (16), GTYoung (17), B Heinke (18). L Zervas (19). H Rink (20). M Sch eer (21). GI Tesse,. (22), J .p Cam6 n (23 ). WHol e ,. (24). A Nied e ,.wiese ,. (25). A Zwick (26. 50), E Taschne ,. (27), FG Ro bine t (28, 55). P Baude t (29). B Iselin (30), W Leryie ,. (31), J Rudinge,. (32). E Wun sch (33). HN Ryd o n (34), K S chlagl (35), K Biemann (3 6). G Pataki (37). R S chwyze,. (38). L Bi,.kole ,. (39), F Weygand (40). P Quitt (41), M B,.e nne ,. (42). D Th eodo ropoulos (43), M,.s DimU,.ie va (44). NK Ko tchecow (45), J To,.gow (46), T Sokolowas ka (47), K Podus ka (48). E B,.;cas (49). I PllOtaki (51), G Stelakatos (52). P·A Jaquenoud (53). W Rittel (5 4). Th Pe tn;ilka (56). A Harimann (57). A Amia,.d (58). K Hasspache,. (59). F Big le ,. (60). WK Antan av (6 1), LR He ,.tsdl (62), M Rothe (63). K Ho/mann (64). H Gibian (65). CG Honegge,. (66). H Nesvadba (6 7), W Kessler (68), GW Ande ,.son (69). R Webe ,. (70), JF A ,.e ns (7 I). J Pless (72). H Mose,. (73), HJ Panne man (74), H Cu,.tius (75). J Gampe,. (76). J Rosenthale ,. (77). H Nolting (78), W Sied el (79). M Knob (80). G W Ke nne ,. (81). PM S copes (82), HC Be yerman (83 ).

Introduction (Alex N Eberle, University Hospital Basel)

At the beginning of the third epoque of peptide science which, according to Theodor Wieland, was characterised by the sequence detennination of many peptide hormones and antibiotics in the early fifties and the subsequent development of novel synthetic methods, the Swiss pharmaceutical companies established very active and successful peptide research groups (see first article by Rudolph Andreatta). However. already in the late forties in Basel, Max Brenner began his research in peptide science as the first Swiss peptide chemist at a university. Robert Schwyzer turned his attention to activated esters and the synthesis of peptides a few years later, but most of his work was done at Ciba-Geigy in Basel until the mid­sixties when he became professor at the ETH in ZUrich. In the early sixties, Conrad Schneider in Bern directed his research into the immunochemistry of penicillin and later into other peptides. Around 1970, Josef Rudinger established his group at the ETH, joined by Vladimir Pliska, and later Bernd Gutte was apPointed professor at the University of ZOrich. In the eighties and nineties, Robin Offord became professor in Geneva, Manfred Mutter in Lausanne, Alex N Eberle in Basel, John A Robinson in ZOrich, and finally Annette G Beck-Sickinger at the ETH in ZOrich. In the following, these colleagues will briefly report about the peptide research at their universities. For historical interest , a photograph of the older "heroic" days of peptide science is included showing those active almost forty years ago: the participants of EPS-3, Basel, in 1960.

University of Geneva (Robin Offord, Institute of Medical Biochemistry)

The group of Keith Rose continues to develop his polyoxime concept for the construction of extremely large artificial molecules of totally controlled structure (Bioconjug. Chern. 1996, 7 , 552-556). They have recently applied it with considerable success to the construction of a fully synthetic malaria vaccine (Vaccine, in the press) and a clinical trial is in progress. Robin Offord's group has been involved in the design and construction of semisynthetic chemokine analogues. They had been hoped to be anti-inflammatory compounds but turned out to be the first co-receptor antagonists capable of inhibiting the primary event in the initiation of HIV infection (Science 1997, 276, 276-279). The original derivative was already active at sub-nanomolar concentrations, and newer ones, made on the same principles of molecular design. are more potent still. Both groups have collaborated in the further development of a novel mass-spectrometric method for the precise estimation of plasma concentrations of biopharmaceuticals at physiological and sub­physiological levels (J. Bioi. Chern. 1997,272 , 12513-12522). They have exploited the polyoxime principle to make a semisynthetic trioxime F(ab')3 antibody construction with exceptionally favourable tumour localisation (Cancer Res. 1996, 56, 809-815). currently in clinical trial as a tumour-locating agent in two Swiss centres. Neither group shares the somewhat gloomy outlook of the future of peptide synthesis expressed in Newsletter 18. With the introduction of Stephen Kent's natural ligation methods for unprotected peptides (&ience 1994, 266, 776-779) and his general improvements in repetitive peptide synthesis, it is now generally faster and more reliable to synthesize a small protein, even one without non­coded amino acids , than it is to obtain it by recombinant methods.

University of Zurich (John A Robinson, Institute of Organic Chemistry)

Peptide research at the University of ZUrich is concentrated mainly in the Institutes of Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry. The main interest of the group of Bernd Gutte in the Biochemistry Institute is the design of polypeptides with novel functions. They have developed a DDT-binding peptide, which now turns out to interact also with DDE\ an extremely stable DDT degradation product with androgen antagonist activity in mammals. It seems that in the presence of this peptide ODE degradation/modification is enhanced. More recently HIV enhancer-binding peptides based on the sequence of the DNA-binding domain of bacteriophage 434 repressor have been designed. These peptides were able to suppress the HIV enhancer­controlled transcription both in cell extracts and in living cells. Using the peptide library approach, analogues are now being "designed" with increased HIV enhancer binding activity. Also in the Biochemistry Institute. the group of Hans Bosshard is working on the chemical and recombinant synthesis of designed peptides for the study of the thermodynamics and kinetics of leucine zipper folding and DNA recognition. Meanwhile, in the Organic Chemistry Institute, the group of John Robinson is interested in the design of new peptide and

protein mimetics , including novel amino-acid-like bUilding blocks designed to stabilise biologically relevant peptide conformations. Recent work has included studies on the NPNA-motif, found as a repeated motif in the CS-protein on the malaria parasite P. falciparum. This work has led to new insights into the structure of this repeat region in the native CS protein. Since the discovery of 2 ,2-disubstituted 3-amino-2H-azirines as synthons for {Jdisubstituted glycines, the group of Heinz Heimgartner has developed the azirine/oxazolone method as a useful approach to the synthesis of conformationally restricted peptides, e.g. the membrane modifying peptaibols. The successful synthesis of enantiomerically pure 3-amino-2H-azirines , the elaboration of a convenient lactone formation via "direct amide cyclization" , and a modification of the azirine/oxazolone method for the regioselective preparation of endothiopeptides, make the method a versatile tool in peptide synthesis.

ETH Zurich (Annette Beck-Sickinger, Department of Pharmacy)

The major aspects of peptide research at the ETH in ZOrich are the development of drugs!bioactive compounds and the use of peptides as model compounds to characterise macromolecules and proteins. Furthermore, R Amado (Food Science) structurally characterises flavour peptides derived from milk proteins during cheese ripening. Molecular assembly of macromolecules is studied by GP Lorenzi (Polymers) by using strictly a lterna ting DIL-sequences of peptides. Model peptides of protein segments are used to characterise protein surface structures in solution by K Wuthrich (Biophysics) using NMR technology, whereas simulation of structures is performed by M Gutknecht (Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico). In drug development, several groups are interested in peptides. D Seebach (Organic Chemistry) synthesises Bamino acid­containing peptides and is interested in new conformations to stabilise active peptides. New techniques to solve the structure of peptides by NMR are developed by R Ernst (Physical Chemistry), using fully labelled peptides for this purpose. G Folkers (Pharmaceutical Chemistry) rationally designs and tests immunotherapeutics, based on peptides that bind to MHC proteins to overcome autoimmune diseases and H Hengartner (immunology) uses a transgenic mouse model for peptide treatment protocols for diabetes mellitus type I. Activity , funct ion and structure of neurohypophyseal peptides and their role in blood coagulation are studied by V PIi~ka (Animal Science). Ligandreceptor interaction of neuropeptides, such as NPX, CGRP and VIP are investigated by AG Beck-Sickinger (Pharmaceutical Biochemistry) to develop new ligands and to characterise bind ing and signal transduction to G protein-coupled receptors on a molecular level. Transdermal application of peptide drugs, peroral delivery, absorption and metabolism of peptides is studied by HP Merkle (Galenical Pharmacy) whereas E Wintermantel (Material Sciences) studies biocompatible degradable materials for the controlled release of , e.g. , peptide growth factors.

University o f lausanne (Manfred Mutter, Institute of Organic Chemistry)

Peptides a la mode lausannoise look often somewhat different from '"normal" peptides: covalently attached to topological templates, they self-assemble to folding units (Template Assembled Synthetic Proteins, TASP) similar to globular proteins. The template concept avoids the omnipresent protein folding problem in protein de novo design and makes a link between peptide and protein chemistry. Due to recent progress in chemoselective ligation procedures (notably achieved by our neighbours in Geneva, R Offord and K Rose) , the future potential of the TASP approach in protein design has only recently found the fu ll attention of the international peptide community: the design of TASP molecules exhibiting tailor-made structural and functional properties is no longer an exotic speciality of Mutter's gourmet kitchen in the chemistry building of the University of Lausanne, beautifully situated by the Lake of Geneva. About twenty co-workers (half PhD students and postdocs) devote all their efforts (beside anXiously looking for a good job) to prove that peptide chemistry is still one of the most fascinating research areas in bioorganic chemistry. Gabriele Tuchscherer, integrated in the same building, does her research in the field of protein mimicry (MHC, lysozyme, selectin) . But this is not all in Lausanne: two steps away, Horst Vogel and his group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology a t Lausanne has a strong line in peptide chemistry: there, engineered peptides and protein receptors are attached to metal surfaces for obtaining novel biosensors. And going in the opposite direction, the groups around B Testa and P-A Carrput a t the Institute of Pharmacy, together with C Lehmann in the chemistry building, know exactly how to shape a peptide by molecular modelling for

studying structure-function relationships. Overlooking the City of Lausanne, PG Corradin and his group at the Institute of Biochemistry look at the immunological aspects of peptides. And last but not least , at the University Hospital near the famous gothic cathedral. several groups are interested in bioactive peptides as therapeutics. In view of these local interactions, Lausanne ineed is an ideal place for peptide research. And the bad news? For the sake of our excellent young students. we must prevent peptide chemistry from being considered as a minor branch of bioorganic chemistry; but this is another story.

University of Base l (Alex N Eberle, University Hospital)

The Department of Chemistry of the University of Basel has had a long tradition in peptide chemistry, first with Max Brenner who was one of the pioneers active of the peptide field , and with his successor Manfred Mutter who unfortunately only stayed in Basel for a few years. At the moment. this chair is still vacant but it is hoped that a new professor will soon be apPointed. At the Biocenter of the University, Anna Seelig studies biophysical interactions of neuropeptides, amphiphilic model peptides and neuroactive drugs with lipid bilayers. A more biological direction of peptide research is followed at the University Hospi tal where several groups pursue projects with peptides and growth factors and their receptors. A Maecke, C Beglinger and AN Eberle and their collaborators have developed and biologically tested novel radiopeptides for tumour diagnosis and therapy. They utilise a new universal chelator, DOTA (1 ,4 ,7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7 .10-tetraacetic acid) which can complex equally well diagnostic (e.g. indium-Ill , gallium-68) or therapeutic radionuclides (e.g. yttrium-90). At present , analogues of somtatostatin (e .g. DOTA-Tyr­octreotide) are now routinely used in the clinic. Other projects at the Department of Research of the University Hospital deal with peptide receptor expression and the modulation of intracellular signalling crucial for the regulation of tumour growth. J Huwyler is developing peptide-coated liposomes as magic bullets to target tumours of the brain in order to achieve a more efficient drug delivery. Many more groups in Basel, e.g. at the Friedrich-Miescher-Institute or the Basel Institute of Immunology, utilise peptides regularly as tools for various biological studies.

THE JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE

As announced at EPS-25, I have been apPOinted to succeed Conrad Schneider as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Peptide Science from 1 January 1999. Conrad has done an excellent job of setting up the Journal, shaping its identity, and giving it momentum. It is the official journal of the Society, and we owe him warm thanks for all his efforts. It is an honour and a challenge to have been asked to accept the baton from him. I am glad to say that he has readily agreed to remain on the Editorial Advisory Board.

The Journal is already a success, but its subscription base needs consolidating, and Members who do not subscribe are urged to give it their support (at the very attractive Members' special rate of only $85 for 1999). Similarly , there is now a healthy stream of good papers , but the maintenance of a high standard depends on this and we look especially to Members to send in their best work.

There has been a small problem of a backlog of accepted papers delayed in a queue for publication, but this has been greatly reduced and special attention is to be given to this aspect in future. In particular, publication will be monthly from now on, without increase of the subscription rate . Suggestions and comments from Members will always be welcome.

John Jones

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NEW PUBLICATION NOTICES

Information has been received on the follOWing new books, journals, conference proceedings etc. which may be of interest to Members. Notices will be repeated in a future issue if it is necessary to correct them or desirable to provide fuller infonnation. Suggestions for future entries in this section should be sent to the Editor, who will welcome them: full data should be provided, including the ISBN or ISSN. Listing here does not preclude a subsequent review in the Newsletter.

AMINO ACIDS AND PEPTIDES GC Barrett and DT Elmore. 250pp. 1999. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46292-4 .

BIOORGANIC CHEMISTRY, PEPTIDES AND PROTEINS Ed. SM Hecht. x+ 532pp, 1998. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508468-3.

COMPREHENSIVE NATURAL PRODUCTS CHEMISTRY Volume 4 . Amino acids , peptides , porphyrins and alkaloids. Ed . JW Kelly. Forthcoming. See http://www.elsevier.nl/locatelchem-mrw

ENANTIOSELECTIVE SYNTHESIS OF S-AMINO ACIDS Eel. E Juaristi. Xviii + 491pp, 1997. Wiley VCH. ISBN 0-471-18627-9.

FRONTIERS OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE Proc. APS-15 , Nashville , Tennessee, 1997. Eels. JP Tam and PTP Kaumaya. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht , 1998. ISBN 0-7923-5160-6.

HANDBOOK OF PROTEOLYTIC ENZYMES Eels. AJ Barrett, NO Rawlings and JF Woessner . 1758pp approx., 1998. Intercept Ltd., Andover, Hants. A book with CD-ROM containing searchable text and addi tional data and illustrations.

INNOVATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES IN SOLID PHASE SYNTHESIS AND COMBINATORIAL LIBRARIES Proc. 5th International Symposium, London. 1997. Ed. REpton. Mayflower Worldwide, 1998. ISBN 0-9527011-3-8.

[INTEGRATED RESEARCH ON BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE PEPTIDES[ Integrovany vyzkum biologicky aktivnich peptidu. Eds. T Barth & M Ticha. 121pp, Prague, 1998. ISBN 80-7184-510-8.

PEPTIDES 1996 Proc. EPS-24. Edinburgh. 1996. Eds. R Ramage and REpton. Ixxi + 971pp, 1998. Mayflower Scientific Ltd. ISBN 0-9527011-2-X.

SOLID-PHASE PEPTIDE SYNTHESIS Methods in Enzymology, Volume 289. Ed. GB Fields. xxxi + 780pp, 1997 . Academic Press. ISSN 0076-6879/1SBN 0-12-182190-0.

PEPTIDE SCIENCE - PRESENT AND FUTURE Proc. IPS-I. Kyoto 1997. Ed. Y ShimonishL Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. 1998. ISBN 0-79232-5271-8.

Compiled by the Editor

SOCIETY NEWS

Distribution of Membership within Countries

A check of the Membership (total 1207) in August 1998. revealed the following distribution:-

Australia 8 France 166 Norway

Austria 10 Germany 160 Poland

Belgium 26 Greece 33 Portugal

Bietorussia II Hungary 40 Russia

Brazil 1 Ireland 1 Slovakia

Bulgaria 24 Israel 21 Slovenia

Canada 3 Italy 129 Spain

Columbia 1 Japan 1 Sweden

Croatia 14 Korea 1 Switzerland

Czech Republic 38 Latvia 11 Taiwan

Denmark 16 Macedonia 1 United Kingdom

Estonia 2 Netherlands 34 USA

Finland 7 Nigeria 1

Having reached the minimum of seven Members required by Statute. Council at its Budapest meeting accepted Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia as constituent countries.

12

81

11

45

16

7

31

29

42

1

125

47

The New Council of the Society

After the selection of National Representatives, co-option. and election of Officers the structure of the new Council is R Rocchi (Chairman); JS Davies (Secretary) ; JH Jones (Treasurer); H Gras-Masse (France, Scientific Affairs Member): MF Andreae (Austria) ; 0 Andreu (Spain); E Benedetti (Italy): M Bienert (Co­opted), A Dutta (United Kingdom); A Eberle (Switzerland); M Fiegel (Czech Republic); M Fridkin (Israel) ; S Horvat (Croatia); F Hudecz (Hungary); U Kalejs (Latvia); M Meldal (Denmark); L Moroder (Germany); M Marraud (Co-opted), D Petkov (Bulgaria) ; K Rolka (Poland); L Rodrigues (Portugal); C Sakarellos (Greece); AY Surovoy (Russian Federation); PB Ten Kortenaar (Netherlands): 0 Tourwe (Belgium); and G Westin­Sjbdahl (Sweden). A nomination is still being arranged in NOIway, as the original nominee (Dr Pe ter Fischer) has moved to Scotland.

Executive Committee

R Rocchi (Chairman) ; JS Davies (Secretary) ; JH Jones (Treasurer) ; H Gras-Masse (Scientific Affairs Member); F Hudecz; and J Martinez (co-opted as Chairman of EPS-26). The contact data for Officers is given below.

EPS Grants for Small Meetings

Applications are invited from organisers of small International Meetings for sponsorship of up to EI000, towards the expenses of lecturers etc. Consideration can also be given to sessions within National conferences involving invited International Lecturers, prOvided certain crite ria regarding publicity and reports for the Newsletter can be agreed. Applications accompanied by a brief description of the meeting should be sent to the Scientific Affairs Member.

E·mail Addresses of Members

Over the next months National Representatives have been given the task of attempting to draw up a comprehensive list of e-mail addresses in each country. We hope you can assist in this task to improve communication.

Attracting More Sponsors

The Treasurer will soon be embarking on the task of securing more Sponsors for the Society. If you have personal contacts amongst commercial companies with in your country who could be Sponsors, please let him know.

John S Dauies

Secretary

CALENDAR OF RELEVANT MEETINGS

Information has been collected about the following meetings, which are directly relevant to the interests of Members. Meetings which are under the auspices of the Society have their titles printed in green. Organisers are asked to send corrections and updates to the Editor. It would be helpful if similar information on all relevant meetings could be sent in as a matter of routine in future.

20th ANNUAL WINTER NEUROPEPTIDE CONFERENCE 6-12 February, 1999. Breckenridge, Colorado. Debra Edwards {Fax 970·453·1423; e-mail sumfound@colorado.net].

4. DEUTSCHES PEPTIDSYMPOSIUM 2 1-24 March 1999, leipzig. Germany. Prof Dr K Burger {Fax +341 9736599; e·mail DPKLEI99@ORGANIK. ORGCHEM.UNI­LEIPZIGDEj. httpj/www.uni-Ieipzig.de/chemie/peptid/ index.htm

18th JOINT MEETING OF BRITISH ENDOCRINE

SOCIETIES 12-14 April 1999, Bournemouth, UK. Julie Cragg, Society fo r Endocrinology, 17/18 The Cou rtyard, Woodlands, A/mondsbury, Bristol, BS12 4NQ {Fax +44 1454616071 ; e-mail info@endocrinology,orgJ,

MIMETICS99 26-30 April 1999, Houffalize, Belgium Professor G Van Binst fe-mail georges. van. binst@skynet.bel

2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MICROPLATE TECHNOLOGY 17-2 1 May 1999, Montreux, Switzerland.

Susanne Daniel, Bureca AG, CH-4310 Rhein/elden. Switzerland.

16th AMERICAN PEPTIDE SYMPOSIUM 26 June - 1 July 1999, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

fe-mail 16aps@chem.umn.eduj. \WJW chem.umn.edu/ 16ap5

13th ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM OF THE PROTEIN

SOCIETY 24-28 July 1999, Boston, Massachusetts. Robin Roth, Protein Society Symposium Management Office, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3998, USA

81st MEETING OF THE ENDOCRINE SOCIETY 12-15 June 1999, San Diego, California. Ki m Akoto, The Endocrine Society. 4350 East West Highway, Suite 500 Bethesda, MD 20814-4410, USA {Fax + 1-301 -941 -0259{. http://WWVoJ,endo-society.org

1999 SUMMER NEUROPEPTIDE CONFERENCE 27 June - 1 July 1999, Key West. Rorida. Dr Jacques Bradwejn , Royal Ottowa Hospital, 1145 Carling. Ottowa K1Z 7K4, Canada {Fax 613 7225871 }. l)JWIN.inps.org

6th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON AMINO ACIDS 3-7 August , 1999,80nn_ Dr a Labudouo {Fax 02281287-4457; e-mail hrink@mailer.meb.uni-bonn.de].

1999 WORLD CONGRESS ON NEUROHYPOPHYSIAL HORMONES 28 August- 2 September 1999_ Edinburgh_ {e-mail, WCNH.1999@ed.ac_uk}. http.;/www.phLed.ac_uk/wcnh

6th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOLID PHASE SYNTHESIS 31 August - 4 September 1999. University of

York, York, UK Professor Roger Epton, d o 6th SPS Secretariat, PO Box 13, Kingswinford. West Midlands , DY60HQ, UK {Fax +44 1384294463, e-mail r.epton@mayflower.demon .co.uk} W\IYIAI.biocom.co.uk/york99 .htm

36th JAPANESE PEPTIDE SYMPOSIUM 21-23 October 1999, Kyoto. Professor N Fujii Ie-mail nfujii@pharm.kyoto-u.ac.jpj.

5th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON INSULIN-LIKE GROWTH FACTORS 31 October - 4 November 1999, Brighton. UK Jeff Hol/y, University Diuision of Surgery, Level 7. Bristol Royollnfirmary, Marlborough Street , Bristol. BS2 8HW {Fax +44 1454 616071, e-maillGF-99@bristol.ac.uk].

7th IBERIAN PEPTIDE MEETING February, 2000, Altea . Spain.

Professor E Perez-Paya. Uniuersity of Valencia fe ·rnail paya@uu. esj.

19th JOINT MEETING OF BRITISH ENDOCRINE SOCIETIES 13-15 March 2000, Birmingham International

Convention Centre. UK.

Julie Cragg, Society for Endocrinology, 17/18 The Courtyard, Woodlands, Almondsbury, Bristol. BS12 4NQ {Fax +44 1454 616071; e-mail info@endocrinology.orgJ,

PROTEIN 2000, PERSPECTIVES ON PROTEIN ENGINEERING INTO THE NEXT MILLENIUM 10-14 July 2000, London, UK. Professor Roger Epton (Symposium Coordinator), do PROTEIN 2000 Secretariat , PO BOX 13, Kingswinford, West Midlands, DY6 OHQ, England UK {Fax +44 1454 616071; e-mail r.epton @may/lower.demon.co.uk}.

SAN LUIS CONFERENCE Proteins Peptides Peptidomimetics and Drug

Design 24-30 August 2000, San Luis, Argentina Professor R Enriz, Medicinal Chemistry Group, National Uniuersity of San Luis, San Luis,

Argentino.

GRS '2000 7-9 September 2000, Gothenburg, Sweden. Information from the Secretary of the Growth

H ormone Research Society: Dr Jens Sandhal Christiansen, Medical Department M, Aarhus Kommunehospital, DK-BOOO, Aarhus C, Denmark.

26th EUROPEAN PEPTIDE SYMPOSIUM 10-15 September 2000, Montpellier , France. Professor Jean Martinez fe-ma il martinez@pharma.univ-montpl.frl. httpJlww2.pharma.univ-montp1.fr/26_EPS

ICE 2000 11th International Congress of Endocrinology.

30 October - 3 November 2000, Sydney. Professor John Eisman, The Garuan Institute of Medical Research, St Vincent 's Hospital, 384 Victoria Street , Darlinghurst Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia.

20th JOINT MEETING OF BRITISH ENDOCRINE SOCIETIES 26-28 March 2001 , Belfast, UK. Julie Cragg, Society for Endocrinology, 17/ 18

The Courtyard, Woodlands, Almondsbury, Bristol, BS12 4NQ {Fax +44 1454 616071; e-mail info@endocrinology.orgl.

17th AMERICAN PEPTIDE SYMPOSIUM 9-14 June 2001, San Diego, California.

Details will be published in due course.

27th EUROPEAN PEPTIDE SYMPOSIUM September 2002, Sorrento, Italy. Professor E Benedetti fe-mail benedetti@chemna.dichLunina.itl.

28th EUROPEAN PEPTIDE SYMPOSIUM

Early September 2004, Jerusalem.

Professor M Fridkin. Compiled by the Editor

BRIEF BOOK REVIEWS

A Abell (Ed.) Advances in Amino Acid Mimetics and Peptidomimetics. JAI Press 1997. ISBN 0-7623-0200-3.

Mimicry is on the increase, it appears. Peptidomimetics have been with us for some years, and the Belgian Symposium concerned with them is to include proteinomimetics next time (see the Calendar of Meetings). The title of this book introduces a new species - amino acid mimetics. It is not entirely clear exactly what is meant by this new term, which is not explained or even indexed within. No doubt some future volume in the series will clarify. These mimetic lexicographic innovations all seem a little ponderous. What a pity the staid world of scientific publishing eschews the vocabulary of tabloid journalism, ruling out punchy

expressions like bogus pep tides! The series which this volume launches promises to be quite a useful one. although problems of definition and demarcation seem inevitable - as the Editor says in his brief preface. "peptidomimetics embrace much of what is modern medicinal and organic chemistry". Indeed, two other serial titles from the same publishing house, Aduances in Medicinal Chemistry (Vol. 1, 1992) and Aduances in Viral Drug Design (Vol. 1. 1993) have both contained chapters which could have appeared in Aduances in Amino Acid Mimetics and Peptidomimetics: in fact all three titles have already reviewed aspects of HIV protease inhibitor design. There are nine chapters by a total of 27 contributors: "The role of computer-aided and structure-based design techniques in the discovery and optimization of cyclic urea inhibitors of HIV protease" ; "Macrocyclic inhibitors of serine proteases"; "Mimicking extended conformations of protease substrates: designing cyclic peptidomimetics to inhibit HIV-1 protease": "Peptidomimetic synthetic combinatorial libraries"; "Peptidomimetic ligands for SRC homology-2 domains": "Peptidomimetic inhibitors of farnesyl-transferase: an approach to new antitumor agents": "Synthetic routes to lactam peptidomimetics": "Toward rationally designed peptidyi-prolyl isomerase inhibitors": and "Natural product peptidomimetcs". No information about reviews in the pipeline is given, but all peptide libraries (the ones with books in , that is) will probably need to subscribe .

• • • •

GK Grimble and FRC Blackwell (Eds). Peptides in Mammalian Protein Metabolism. Portland Press, 1998. ISBN 1·85578·104·2.

This volume is the outcome of a meeting concerning circulating small peptides in mammals which was held at the Rowett Research Institute in September 1994. Much of the thrust of the meeting was about the importance of peplides in amino acid supply for tissue protein metabolism in ruminants. and for human nutrition in clinical situations. Nutritional aspects of peptide science are perhaps a peripheral area for most Members of our Society. but this little book deserves wider attention because many of the contributions deal with issues relevant to peptide drug delivery - peptide transport. the "smugglin" concept. and peptide prodrug design etc.

• •••

R Ramage and R Eplon (Eds). Pep tides 1996. Mayllower Scienlilic Ltd .. 1998. ISBN 0·9527011·2-X.

The Proceedings of EPS-24 (Edinburgh, September 1996) landed on the Editors desk on the last day of July 1998. At 2. 1kg it made quite a thud. It is a very handsome volume, and the Editors and Publisher deserve applause for their efforts. So far as content is concerned. it is good to have the brilliant Josef Rudinger Lecture of Ralph Hirschmann on the record. together with the essence (mostly @ four pages each) of the oral presentations. But for the great bulk of the material. that is the 360 or SO poster presentations (there were actually 425 outlined in the Abstracts Book). it is not possible to be quite so positive. Only two pages could be made available for each of them. We cannot carp at that: more space would have resulted in a hopelessly unwieldy volume. if not a postal strike. But @ only two pages each. most of the papers are inevitably little more informative than the original abstracts. Far more elegantly presented. it is true - but one cannot help doubting whether what has been gained by publishing the entire Proceedings in this way really justifies the trouble and expense involved. No doubt the large number of short papers to process was one of the reasons for delayed publication lag. too. Would it not be more sensible simply to put the Abstracts Book into the general public domain in some way after the Symposium? The Josef Rudinger Lecture and any other especially important contributions of that class could be published in the Society's Journal 0/ Peptide Science (therein your NevJslelter Editor must declare his interest. as he now doubles as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal 0/ Peptide Science too). and for detailed publication the authors of the rest could be left to their own devices. The present practice of the SOCiety in this matter is really a little self­indulgent. and tends to push Symposium registration fees upwards.

Contributed by the Editor

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS IN BRIEF

• On 26 August 1998 Yasuo Konishi announced the release of a new version (V 6.0) of "Peptide Synthesis Database (PSD)"" . which lists compounds useful for peptide synthesis such as Boc- and Fmoc-amino acids. The database is freely accessible through the Internet at http://Chemlibrary.BRI. NRC.CA. Nearly 4000 entries from 43 suppliers appear. The Shimadzu Corporation in Japan has set up a mirror site (http:// ChemLibrary.Shimadzu.co.jp) so that scientists in Asian countries can get faster access Ie-mail YasllD. Konishi@nrc.ca).

• We hear from Tom Barth that a Peptide News section is now being included in the quarterly bulletin of the Czech Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ( ISSN 1222-2526). It contains brief reports on meetings, company profites , information about relevant publications, etc.

• Fleur Strand has informed us that the INPS (International Neuropeptide SOCiety) Newsletter is being replaced by a website: WoNW.inps.org

• Ulo Langel and Lajos Balaspiri have reported the sad news that Professor Viktor Mutt, Emeritus Professor at the Karolinska Institute Stockholm, died suddenly on 10 September 1998. Born in Tartu, Estonia in 1923. he was a wartime refugee who found a haven in Sweden. His lifelong work was in the isolation and characterisation of gastrOintestinal and other biologically active peptides (secretin , CCK-PZ, VIP, motilin etc.) from animal sources. He was the Society's 4th Josef Rudinger Memorial Lecturer (see Pep tides 1992). It is hoped that a full notice and appreciation will appear in a later Newsletter.

• The new (April 1998) President of the Japanese Peptide Society, Professor Yasutsugu Shimonishi, has at our request provided the names of the new Board, which will operate until March 2000: Yasutsugu Shimonishi , Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, (President); Takayuki Shioiri , Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Nagoya-City University, (Vice-President); Yoshio Okada, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Kobe-Gakuin University, (Secretary); Terutoshi Kimura, Peptide Institute, inc ., (Treasurer); Yoshiaki Kiso, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University , (Scientific Affairs Officer); Chieko Kitada , Discovery Research Laboratories 1, Takeda Chemical Ind. , Ltd. , (Editor-in-Chief of the Newsletter); Saburo Aimoto, Institute for Protein Research , Osaka University; Eisuke Munekata , Institute of Applied Biochemistry, University. of Tsukuba; Masaaki Ueki , Faculty of Science, Science University of Tokyo; Tateaki Wakamiya, Faculty of Science and Technology, Kinki University.

• Members will have noticed the welcome support now being given to the Society by PolyPeptide Laboratories , particularly through their sponsorship of the Josef Rudinger Memorial Lecture (formerly sponsored by Ferring). For the benefit of those who have not caught up wi th the news, PolyPeptide Laboratories was formed about two years ago after the decision to divide Ferring , but is now quite independent. It has facilities in Sweden (Malmo), Denmark (Hilleroo), Germany (WolfenbOttel) , California (Torrance) and the Czech Republic (Prague). It is one of the world's largest companies specialising in commercial-scale manufacture of peptides for therapeutic applications. Behind it is a long history and extensive experience in the field , having been involved in large-scale pharmaceutical peptide manufacturing for over 40 years. It offers custom GMP manufacturing of proprietary sequences, as well as GMP production of generic peptides, such as Salmon Calcitonin, Oxytocin, Somatostatin , Calcitonin, Glucagon, CRF, GRF, LH-RH and analogs, hPTH, Vasopressin , Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide and Atrial Natriuretic Peptide. See also http://\.VWVJ.polypeptide.com

SOCIETY OFFICERS Professor Raniero Rocchi

(Chairman) Dipartimento Di Chimica Organica

Universita OegJi Studi Via Marzolo 1

3513 1 PADOVA ITALY

Fax, +39 49 827 5239 e-mail rocchi@chor.unipd.it

Dr. John S Davies (Secretary)

Department of Chemistry University of Wales , Swansea

Singleton Park SWANSEA SA2 8PP, UK Fa" +44 1792 295264

e-mail j.s.davies@swansea.ac.uk

Newsletter Editor Dr JH Jones.

Dr. John Jones (Treasurer)

Balliol College OXFORD OXI3BJ

UK Fa" + 44 1865 277803

e-mail: john.jones@balliol.ox.ac.uk

Professor Helene Gras-Masse (Scientific Affairs Officer)

Institut Pasteur de liJle URA CNRS 1309

59021 L1LLE FRANCE

Fax, +33 3 20 87 73 77 e-mail: helene.gras@pasteur-Ii!le.fr

Balliol College Oxford. OXI 3BJ. UK.

Fax, 44-1865-277803 e-mail: john.jones@balliol.ox.ac.uk

Published for the European Peptide Society by the Editor. Printed by Thomas Leach Ltd. Abingdon.

ALBACHEM Limited Custom Peptide-Protein Synthesis

Specialists in the Production of: • Synthetic Large Peptides & Small Proteins • Peptides with Difficult Sequences • N & C-terminal Modified Peptides • Pure Combinatorial Peptide Libraries • Multiple Antigen Synthesis • Incorporation of Novel Amino Acids • Biotinylation • Peptide Conjugation • Ala & D-amino acid Scanning • Fluorescent Tagging

We have a three year proven track record and routinely provide MALDI TOF/electrospray/FAB MS and HPLC data. Amino acid analysis is also available at an additional cost. All peptides are supplied as a solid vialled end product in >95% purity.

Why not Fax or Phone us today for a free quotation Fax: +44 (0)1316677942 Tel: +44 (0)131 6505808

http://ww.N.albachem.co.uk.ndirect.co.uk

Prot. Robert Ramage, ALBACHEM UriIed. Joooph 8bck Building. KI1g'. BuiIdrog's W8611.1.airn1 Ro;od. Edint...gh EH9 3JJ

SENN CHEMICALS

SENN CHEMICALS AG Industriestrasse 12

P.O. BOX 267 CH · 8157 DIELSDORF

SWITZERLAND Tel. (+41) 1-8549054 Fax (+41) 1-8549055

http://www.sennchem.com

SENN CHEMICALS INTERNATIONAL

11, rue Jean-Baptiste Clement F - 94250 GENTILLY

FRANCE Tel. (+33) (0) 1-49691060 Fax (+33) (0) 1-49691064

SENN CHEMICALS USA 3550 General Atomics Court

Building 2, Room 441 SAN DIEGO, CA 92121

USA Tel. (+ 1) 619 455 3170 Fax (+1) 619 455 3171

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IAC.EM AG HauplSlrasse 144 CH·4416 Bubendorl I'tlOIlt: 061 1931 23 33 Fu:061 19312s49

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SACHEM IlntlllClllC. 3700 Horiroo Orwe King 01 Prussia. PA 19400· U.S.A. Phone: 610 1239 0300 1180016343183 Fax: 6101239 oaoo ~,"'II ' ""'.,'It,,. "',hpm '~m

How Bac Purity

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When you're racing the clock -and your competitors - to bring a new drug to the marketplace, the purity 01 Sachem peplides gives you two advantages: unsurpassed Quality and proven regulatory experience.

You can rely on Sachem to provide ultra-pure peptides for research and clinical studies, as well as GMP-qualily grade peplides in production QuanWies. With over 220'000 square feel 01 production capacity in the United Slates and Switzerland, we can assure you 01 a consistent, reliable and timely supply.

You can count on us to provide complete documen­tation and regulatory support. We are licensed by Ihe FDA and Ihe IKS lor GMP produclion 01 pharmaceutical grade peplides, and have been involved in hundreds of successful projects and clinical applications.

Bachem is the world's largest producer of custom and bulk pharmaceutical peptides. We have offered quality, service and innovation to the scientific community for over 25 years.

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/BRCHEn7! Perfection in pep tides. Worldwide.

IACHEM Clllr.,ail ilc. IACHIM IIDclclllicl CrUM IACHEM IlltHllllARI SACHEM (DKJ lid. 3132 Kashlwa Slreel Haberslr.m.e 6 136 Aven~e Joseph Kessel 69 High Slreet. 5a!lron Walden Tonance. CA 90505· U.S.A. 0·69126 Heidel berg F·78961 Voisios-Ie·Brelooneux Essex CB10 l AA. Eng land Phone: 31gls39 4171 Phone: 06221133 ~·O CEOI:X Phone: 01799 152 64 65 888 - 422 2436 Fax: 06221133 05 99 Phone: 01130 12 15 9S FillC: 01799152 63 51 Fax: 310 1530 1571 Email: verkaul.de.@baehtm.com fax: 011 30573882 Email: sa les.uk@bachem.eom Fm.II' .">< ". h.r"o", '~m F",,-I' ,,"","~r, ",,"om '~m