Peptide

Peptides serve as effective drugs in the clinic today. However the inherent drawbacks of peptide structures can limit their efficacy as drugs. To overcome this researchers are developing new methods to create ‘tailor-made’ peptides and proteins with improved pharmacological properties.

This volume details methods and protocols on b-sheet assemblies and collagen. Divided into three parts chapters focus on expanding use of solid-state NMR as a powerful method to enhance structural understanding of self-assembled peptide materials, methods for the design, synthesis, and application of self-assembled peptide materials, and structural and mechanistic analyses of pathological amyloid systems that provide novel ways to assess function of the various possible aggregates as well to determine how the structure of these materials correlates to function/dysfunction in the biological context.

Almost two centuries ago proteins were recognized as the primary materials (proteios = primary) oflife, but the significance and wide role of peptides (from pepsis = digestion) in practically all life pro­ cesses has only become apparent in the last few decades. Biologi­ cally active peptides are now being discovered at rapid intervals in the brain and in other organs including the heart, in the skin of amphibians and many other tissues.