Conference Report

14th Austrian Peptide Symposium

Vienna, 5th of December 2025

The 14th Austrian Peptide Symposium was held on the 5th of December 2025 at the Van Swieten Conference Center of the Medical University of 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 symposium brought together researchers from academia and industry to exchange ideas and discuss the latest developments in peptide chemistry, biology, pharmacology, and drug discovery.

The one-day meeting comprised five scientific sessions featuring high-level invited lectures, short oral presentations selected from >50 submitted abstracts, and an extensive poster session. With more than 100 participants, the symposium once again demonstrated its increasing importance as a platform for scientific exchange and networking within the Austrian and European peptide research community. A highlight was the presentation of the fifth “Bachem AtPS Award for Peptide Science” to Nathaly Grob (ETH Zurich).

 

Session 1: Peptide & Protein Chemistry

Chair: Christian Becker (University of Vienna)

•       Andre Cobb (King’s College London, UK): “Solid phase peptide synthesis of heteromeric catalytic α,d-foldamers”

•       Florian Praetorius (Institute of Science and Technology Austria): “Stepwise design of multifunctional proteins and bimolecular assemblies”

•       Tomáš Fiala (Masaryk University, Czechia): “Breaking a 60-year-old paradigm in collagen model peptide research”

Session 2: Peptide Biology & Pharmacology

Chair: Christian Gruber (Medical University of Vienna)

•       Eivind Undheim (University of Bergen, Norway): “Evolution and diversity of ant venom peptide toxin arsenals”

•       Antonella Di Pizio (TU München, Germany): “Prediction of peptide bitter taste”

•       András Perczel (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary): “Molecular resilience by design: Aromatic interactions and folding as intrinsic stabilizers of peptides and foldamers”

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

Chair: Anne Conibear (TU Vienna, Austria)

•       Éva Bartus (University of Szeged, Hungary): “Light-fueled competitive exclusion in a protein-catalyzed dissipative peptide replication”

•       Konstantin Raabe (University of Vienna, Austria): “Photocaged neuropeptides for precision studies”

•       Marius Werner (Heidelberg University, Germany): “Late-stage functionalization of peptides on the solid phase”

•       Medine Soydan (TU Vienna, Austria): “Semi-synthesis of site-specifically modified HMGN1 to explore crosstalk between Ser-phosphorylation and Lys-acetylation in the nucleosome binding domain”

•       Simon Hasinger (Medical University of Vienna, Austria): “Probing GPCR signaling using evolutionary conserved invertebrate neuropeptide systems”

•       Tim Baldensperger (University of Vienna, Austria): “Effects of site-specific glycation on α-synuclein aggregation”

Session 4: Peptides in Drug Discovery & Production Methods

Chair: Roland Hellinger (Medical University of Vienna)

•       Christian Behn (CEM GmbH, Germany): “Greening peptide purification through replacement of acetonitrile with ethanol”

•       Alison Obergrussberger (Nanion Technologies, Germany): “Real time electrophysiological analysis of peptide-membrane interactions”

Session 5: Award Lecture

Chairs: Christian Becker (University of Vienna) and Christian Gruber (Medical University of Vienna)

•       Nathalie Grob (ETH Zürich, Switzerland): “Charting the unnatural space: the use of AS-MS in peptide drug discovery”

The “Bachem AtPS Award for Peptide Science”, supported by Bachem AG, recognizes emerging leaders in peptide science in the D/A/CH region.

Poster Awards

A total of 47 posters were presented, and four poster prizes were awarded for outstanding A large and diverse poster session accompanied the scientific programme with 47 presentations, showcasing current advances across peptide chemistry, biology, pharmacology, biotechnology, and drug discovery.

Four poster prizes were awarded for outstanding contributions:

•       Isabell Ober (University of Vienna): “Bivalent Ligands targeting the Oxytocin Receptor – Dopamine D2 Receptor Heterodimer”

•       Andreas Fraunhofer (Medical University of Vienna): “Production of β-Arrestin Isoforms for Peptide Modulator Screening”

•       Jonathan Dieringer (Medical University of Vienna): “Cyclic Peptides as Research Tools to Study Prolyl Oligopeptidase Inhibition”

•       Sabrina H. Schmied (University of Vienna): “Semisynthesis of Site-Specifically Phosphorylated Hsp27”

The symposium concluded with poster prizes, closing remarks, and an evening networking dinner with wine tasting, fostering scientific exchange and new collaborations within the peptide research community.

The organizers would like to express their sincere gratitude to all participants, speakers, poster presenters, and sponsors whose generous support made this event possible, including Bachem, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Biotage, CEM, Nanion Technologies, Rieger, Almac, and the European Peptide Society.

 

We look forward to welcoming the peptide community to the 38th European Peptide Symposium, which will be held in Vienna from 6–11 September 2026.

 

Contributed by Christian W. Gruber and Christian Becker