none | Boulder Peptide Symposium

September 15-18, 2025

LIVE, In Person at the St. Julien Hotel in Boulder, Colorado
The only conference focused solely on the pharmaceutical development of peptide therapeutics.

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There’s Still Time to Submit a Poster Abstract for BPS 2022!

Call for BPS 2022 Poster Abstracts has been extended to October 15, 2022. Submit your poster today at boulderpeptide.org.

Prizes for this year's symposium are: $1,000 for 1st; $500 for 2nd; and $250 for 3rd place.

*Free* Virtual BPS on Development of PCSK9 Inhibitor Peptides: Aug 2nd

The August BPF Virtual Symposium will feature Chengwei Wu and Li Li, both from Merck Research Laboratories espeaking on different aspects of the development of PCSK9 inhibitor peptides. Each speaker will present for 30 minutes followed by a moderated panel discussion when attendees will have a chance to submit and ask questions.

Registration is free, and can be completed at Virtual BPS | Boulder Peptide Symposium. *Note* you must be signed in to the site inorder to sign up.

These educational e-seminars are provided free of charge by the Boulder Peptide Foundation. If your company is interested in supporting this or other educational initiatives, please email sponsorship@boulderpeptide.org.

Video Recordings Available for VBPS on Peptides Targeting GPCRs

Missed seeing the May VBPS event on GPCR Targeting?  Have no fear, the videos are here!

On May 4th,  Sally Liang Wang, of Peplib, and Peter McNamara, of Tectonic Therapeutics, each gave a talk on how their companies are targeting GPCRs with peptide therapeutics. Each speaker will presented for 30 minutes followed by a moderated panel discussion and Q&A session.

Recordings of the seminar are available at www.boulderpeptide.org/virtual-bps/. *Please note - you must be logged in to the Boulder Peptide website to access the link*

These educational e-seminars are provided free of charge by the Boulder Peptide Foundation. If your company is interested in supporting this or other educational initiatives, please email sponsorship@boulderpeptide.org.

Johannes Arnold Meienhofer

The Meienhofer Award is named in honor of Dr. Johannes Meienhofer, one of the leading peptide scientists of the 20th century and a pioneer of the modern chemical biology field.

Dr. Johannes Meienhofer was born in Dresden, Germany in 1929, receiving his B.S in Chemistry from the University of Heidelberg in 1952. He earned his Ph.D. at the same university under the direction of Prof. H. Zahn. His postdoctoral research training was under Prof. Vincent du Vigneaud at Cornell Medical College and with Prof. Choh Hao Li at UCSF. After a brief return to Germany and a stay at Bayer, Meienhofer returned to the U.S. in 1965 to become Head of the Laboratory of Peptide and Protein Chemistry at the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dr. Meienhofer was recruited to Hoffman La Roche (HLR) in 1973 by Dr. Arnold Brossi, Director of the Chemistry Division, and Dr. Sidney Udenfriend, Director of Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, where he assumed the leadership of the research group “Bio-Organic Chemistry”, focusing on peptide chemistry.

In December 1963, under his leadership and “his drive”, Dr. Meienhofer and the “Insulin Group” at the DWI at the University of Aachen, Germany, succeeded in achieving the “first total synthesis of Insulin”. This was a milestone achievement in peptide and protein synthesis and his group was one of 3 groups worldwide to succeed in this endeavor.

At the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute, he had several notable achievements including the total synthesis of actinomycin D, with extensive SAR work on this family of anticancer drugs.

During Dr. Meienhofer’s leadership role at Roche, the peptide group made a number of important technological advances in peptide chemistry and hormone pharmacology, in essence being a frontrunner of modern field of chemical biology.
>> Introduction of liquid ammonia as a solvent for catalytic hydrogenolysis of Cbz groups from Cys containing peptides
>> The use of 3,4-dehydroproline as a synthon for the synthesis of tritiated peptides for in vivo pharmacology
>> The incorporation of N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine into peptides to improve their intestinal absorption
>> The isolation, structure determination, and synthesis of thymosin a1, the first fully characterize peptide from the thymus gland
>> The large-scale solution-phase synthesis of thymosin a1 was accomplished in his group and is considered a model synthesis for large-scale preparation.

One of the two lasting contributions was the innovation of “milder” chemistry for SPPS, which at the time the Boc/Bzl strategy was the state of the art. Meienhofer applied Carpino’s Fmoc group to stepwise SPPS, in conjugation with mildly acid-labile side-chain and anchorage chemistries to give rise to Fmoc/tBu SPPS. The impact of this work on the synthesis of peptide pharmaceuticals can not be overstated.

Dr. Meienhofer second seminal contribution was his scholarly work in the editing of the nine-volume series, The Peptides: Analysis, Synthesis and Biology, which appeared between 1979 and 1987.

Dr. Meienhofer was very active in the American Peptide Symposium. He organized the Third APS in Boston in 1972, which was the first Peptide Symposium open to everyone worldwide. This highly successful symposium became a model for subsequent symposia, both in America and Europe.

Many thanks to Dr. Waleed Danho for providing the biographical information about Dr. Meienhofer.

Boulder Peptide Foundation Newsletter: April 2022

View the April newsletter to stay up-to-date on what's happening with BPF!

Read More

 

Video Recordings Available for VBPS on AI in Peptide Design

Missed seeing the June VBPS event on Artificial Intelligence in Peptide Design?  Have no fear, the videos are here!

On June 28th,  Yu-Shan Lin, of Tufts University, and Chris Bahl, of AI Proteins, each gave a talk on how they are using artificial intelligance to design peptides. Each speaker presented for 30 minutes followed by a moderated panel discussion and Q&A session.

Recordings of the seminar are available at www.boulderpeptide.org/virtual-bps/. *Please note - you must be logged in to the Boulder Peptide website to access the link*

These educational e-seminars are provided free of charge by the Boulder Peptide Foundation. If your company is interested in supporting this or other educational initiatives, please email sponsorship@boulderpeptide.org.

Review: Cyclic peptide drugs approved in the last two decades (2001–2021)

In contrast to the major families of small molecules and antibodies, cyclic peptides, as a family of synthesizable macromolecules, have distinct biochemical and therapeutic properties for pharmaceutical applications. Cyclic peptide-based drugs have increasingly been developed in the past two decades, confirming the common perception that cyclic peptides have high binding affinities and low metabolic toxicity as antibodies, good stability and ease of manufacture as small molecules. Natural peptides were the major source of cyclic peptide drugs in the last century, and cyclic peptides derived from novel screening and cyclization strategies are the new source. In this review, we will discuss and summarize 18 cyclic peptides approved for clinical use in the past two decades to provide a better understanding of cyclic peptide development and to inspire new perspectives. The purpose of the present review is to promote efforts to resolve the challenges in the development of cyclic peptide drugs that are more effective.

DOI: 10.1039/D1CB00154J (Review Article) RSC Chem. Biol., 2022, 3, 18-31

Tuesday Breakfast

~ Breakfast on the Rocks ~

Scrambled Eggs with Fine Herbs

Applewood Smoked Bacon
Traditional Pork Sausage

Organic Steel-Cut Oatmeal
Dried Fruits, Chopped Nuts, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon
Skim, Whole & Soy Milk

St Julien Breakfast Potatoes

Sliced Seasonal Fresh Fruits & Berries
Plain & Flavored Greek Yogurt and Regular Yogurt
House-Made Granola
Assorted Bagels
Plain & Flavored Cream Cheese
Butter & Preserves

Orange Juice & Cranberry Juice
Starbucks Coffee, Decaffeinated Coffee
Assorted Teas

Wednesday Lunch

~ Jill's Panini Lunch Buffet ~

Garden Salad
Carrots, Cucumber, Pear Tomatoes & Balsamic Vinaigrette

Antipasti Salad
Marinated Artichokes, Grilled Asparagus, Roasted Peppers,
Spinach & Lemon Oregano Vinaigrette

Shaved Roast Beef Sandwich
Caramelized Onions, Spinach & Goat Cheese, Aioli
Ciabatta Bread

Cauliflower Flatbread Mozzarella Melt
Tomato, Basil & Aged Balsamic Vinegar

Tuscan Foccacia Panini
Capricola, Prosciutto, Provolone,
Arugula & Sundried Tomato Pesto

Grilled Chicken Wrap
Tomato, Fontina Cheese & Roasted Garlic Aioli

House-Made Spicy Potato Chips

Mini Chocolate Stracciatella Cannoli
& Chocolate Espresso Tartelette

Starbucks Coffee & Decaffeinated Coffee
Assorted Teas & Iced Tea


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