Conference Report

13th Austrian Peptide Symposium

Vienna, 5th of December 2024

The 13th Austrian Peptide Symposium was held on the 5th of December 2024 at the Van Swieten Conference Center in Vienna. Continuing a successful tradition, the symposium was co-organized by Christian Gruber (Medical University of Vienna) and Christian Becker (University of Vienna, Austrian representative to the European Peptide Society), and took place under the auspices of the European Peptide Society. The event began with a convivial speaker’s dinner at Restaurant Stromwaerts on the evening before the symposium.

The one-day meeting comprised four scientific sessions featuring high-level invited lectures, short oral presentations selected from submitted abstracts, and a vibrant poster session with 32 contributions. With over 120 participants, the symposium demonstrated its increasing relevance as a networking and scientific exchange platform within the peptide research community. A key highlight was the presentation of the fourth “Bachem AtPS Award for Peptide Science.”

Session 1: Peptide & Protein Chemistry

Chair: Christian Becker (University of Vienna)

• Hiro Suga (University of Tokyo, Japan): “Macrocyclic peptides, pseudo-natural macrocycles and neobiologics for therapeutics innovation”
• Marina Rubini (University College Dublin, Ireland): “Semisynthetic approaches for studying post-translational modifications: lessons learnt from cykotines”
• Armin Geyer (University of Marburg, Germany): “Chemical synthesis of peptide natural products”

Session 2: Peptide Biology & Pharmacology

Chair: Christian Gruber (Medical University of Vienna)

• Nicolas Gilles (Paris-Saclay University, France): “A snake toxin for treatment of kidney disease. From bench to, hopefully, bedside”
• Sarah Melzer (Medical University of Vienna, Austria): “Visualizing and manipulating neuropeptidergic effects in learning and memory”
• Alex Hauser (University of Copenhagen, Denmark): “Deep learning in GPCR drug discovery: Benchmarking the path to accurate peptide binding”

Session 3: Hot Topics in Peptide Science – Selected from Abstracts

Chair: Anne Conibear (TU Vienna, Austria)

• Kristóf Ferentzi (ELTE University, Hungary): “Addressing sustainability challenges in peptide synthesis with flow chemistry and machine learning”
• Julia Kriegesmann (Technion, Israel): “Exploiting the potential of a SpyTag/SpyCatcher system in protein ubiquitination”
• Hannah Back (University of Vienna): “Fine-tuning immune-stimulatory and cancer cell binding properties of immune system engagers”
• Helene Hönigsperger (University of Ulm): “Discovery of an anti-inflammatory peptide in human placenta”
• Oksana Sintsova (University of Bergen, Norway): “Sea anemone β-defensin-like α-amylase inhibitors as promising agents of postprandial hyperglycemia control”

Session 4: Peptides in Drug Discovery & Production Methods

Chair: Roland Hellinger (Medical University of Vienna)

• István Mandity (Semmelweis University, Hungary): “Continuous-flow peptide synthesis: Greening the process”
• Monika Swiontek (CEM, Germany): “Massive waste reduction for solid phase peptide synthesis”
• Mariana Damian (Biotage, Sweden): “Where does technology make a difference in peptide high-throughput production for efficient scanning of drug candidates?”
• Marius Segl (Knauer, Germany): “Optimizing peptide purification: HPLC scale-up process for high purity and efficiency”
• Daniel Yasini (Bachem, Switzerland): “Molecular hiving: An efficient alternative in peptide production”

Bachem AtPS Award for Peptide Science

The fourth “Bachem AtPS Award for Peptide Science” was awarded to Kevin Neumann (Radboud University, Netherlands) for his outstanding work on “Chemoselective peptide transformations: From synthetic tools to bioorthogonal concepts.” The award, supported by Bachem AG, recognizes emerging leaders in peptide science in the D/A/CH region.

Poster Awards

A total of 32 posters were presented, and four poster prizes were awarded for outstanding contributions (one supported by Wiley). The recipients were (in alphabetical order):
Edda Jost (University of Vienna): “A Modular ABPP Approach to Target Protease AgrB in the Pathogen S. aureus”
Bernhard Jandl (University of Vienna): “Antibiofilm peptides to target gastrointestinal biofilms”
Monika Perisic (University of Vienna): “Development of advanced molecular tools to study the oxytocin receptor system”
Moritz Urschbach (University of Vienna): “Modular access to structurally defined ubiquitin chains”

Following the closing remarks, the symposium concluded with a networking dinner and wine tasting, featuring Austrian wines provided by Michaela Jöbstl.

The organizers would like to express their sincere gratitude to all participants, speakers, and contributors, as well as to the sponsors whose generous support made this event possible: Bachem, ThermoFisher Scientific, Axel Semrau, Knauer, GenScript, Almac, Biotage, CEM, SolidScience, the Medical University of Vienna, and the European Peptide Society.

We look forward to welcoming you to the 14th Austrian Peptide Symposium in December 2025.

Contributed by Christian W. Gruber and Christian Becker

Bachem Award ceremony: from left to right, Christian Becker, Daniel Yasini (Bachem, Switzerland), Kevin Neumann (Bachem Awardee), Christian Gruber

Conference group photo