Peptides step up

New screening platforms and synthetic approaches could finally solve some of the longstanding hurdles to turning antimicrobial peptides into therapeutic candidates to combat antibacterial resistance, overcoming their history of limited clinical efficacy, systemic toxicity and high cost.

The advances come from platforms that move beyond the search for naturally occurring peptides that has been common in the field, with systems to increase chemical space, employ unnatural polymers or combine different elements to engineer new structures...