Antimicrobial Peptides

In this didactically-written text, the small team of expert authors presents the field in a comprehensive and accessible manner that is well suited for students and junior researchers. The result is a highly readable and systematically structured introduction to antimicrobial peptides, their structure, biological function and mode of action. The authors point the way towards a rational design of this potentially highly effective new class of clinical antibiotics on the brink of industrial application by discussing their design principles, target membranes and structure-activity relationships. The final part of the book describes recent successes in the application of peptides as anticancer agents.

David Andrew Phoenix studied Biochemistry at Liverpool University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science. He remained at Liverpool to complete his Doctorate on penicillin binding proteins. After postdoctoral work at Utrecht University (The Netherlands) and Birkbeck College (London, UK) he became a lecturer, and in 2000 was appointed Professor of Biochemistry, at the University of Central Lancashire. Since 2008 he is Deputy Vice Chancellor responsible for areas of strategic planning and performance across the University group.

Sarah Dennison is a Research Associate in the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences. After graduating from University of Wales, Bangor in Environmental Biology in 1999, Sarah undertook postgraduate research in biochemistry/biophysics. Sarah has spent the last 7 years investigating the biological activity of antimicrobial peptides and has more than 20 publications to her name.

Fred Harris studied biochemistry and microbiology at the University of Central Lancashire, where he obtained a PhD degree in 1998 working on the penicillin-binding proteins of Escherichia coli. He then did post-doctoral research at the University of Utrecht, Holland, and the Leibniz-Centre for Medicine and Biosciences, Forschungszentrum Borstel, Germany. In 2000, Fred started as a Research Fellow, and one of the first staff members, at UCLan's School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences.

Antimicrobial peptides: Their discovery, origins and evolutionary history
Cationic antimicrobial peptides and their structure/function relationships
Anionic antimicrobial peptides and their structure/function relationships
Detection of potential antimicrobial peptides
Importance of the target membrane when considering the activity of antimicrobial peptides
Antimicrobial peptides and their mechanism of action
Potential of antimicrobial peptides to provide templates for anticancer agents