The Department of Biological Chemistry kindly invites to a guest lecture by Prof. Katsumi Matsuzaki, Department of Biophysical Chemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University, Japan.

Title: "Antimicrobial Peptides. Their Mechanisms of Action and Applications"

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are responsible for part of the innate immunity of animals and plants, are promising candidates for new therapeutics because their antimicrobial spectra are broad, and the development of bacterial resistance against them is difficult. They are typically composed of < 50 amino acid residues, cationic, and amphiphilic. Most AMPs kill bacteria by permeabilizing membranes by such as the Shai-Matsuzaki-Huang model, although intracellular targets have also been suggested for certain peptides. Positively charged AMPs selectively interact with bacterial cells, which are negatively charged, without exerting significant cytotoxicity against host cells. Potent AMPs can be developed by increasing positive charges and introducing Pro residues at the same time or by conjugation with antibiotics. Applications of AMPs as anticancer agents will also be discussed.

Prof. Katsumi Matsuzaki graduated from Kyoto University in 1982 and has been a full Professor running the Biophysical Chemistry Lab at the same university since 2003. His main research interests are membrane interactions of peptides and proteins, including antimicrobial peptides and amyloid beta proteins. In particular, he elucidated the novel mechanism of bacterial killing by antimicrobial peptides, named the Shai-Matsuzaki-Huang model. He received Erwin von Bälz Prize, The Pharmaceutical Society Japan Award, and The Japanese Peptide Society Award. He also works as an editorial board member of the Journal of Peptide Science and Biochimica et Biophysica Acta-Biomembranes.