Amphoraxe Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Inanç Birol will be a featured speaker at “Antimicrobial Peptides: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow II”, the second antimicrobial peptide conference hosted by the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s (UNMC) Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. The free, one-day virtual event takes place on Monday, October 19, 2026, on Zoom, and brings together leading antimicrobial peptide (AMP) researchers from around the world.
Dr. Birol will speak on deep learning prediction of antimicrobial peptides in the conference’s third session, AI Prediction of Antimicrobial Peptides, from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. Central Time (12:30 p.m. Pacific). The topic is central to Amphoraxe’s work: our discovery pipeline combines computational genomics with machine learning to identify and optimize AMP candidates as alternatives to conventional antibiotics, helping to address the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance.
About the Conference
Chaired by Dr. Guangshun “Gus” Wang (UNMC), Dr. Charles “Chuck” Bevins (University of California, Davis), and Dr. Monique van Hoek (George Mason University), the program runs across four sessions:
- Discovery, design and applications of AMPs — from AI-assisted design against multidrug-resistant E. coli to lantibiotics, amphibian-derived peptides, and plant defensins.
- History of antimicrobial peptide discovery — first-hand accounts from pioneers of the field, including Dr. Michael Zasloff on the discovery of magainins, Dr. Tomas Ganz on human alpha-defensins, and Dr. Robert Hancock (University of British Columbia) on host defense peptides.
- AI prediction of antimicrobial peptides — with Dr. Cesar de la Fuente (University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Monique van Hoek, Dr. Octavio Luiz Franco (Universidade Católica Dom Bosco), and Dr. Inanç Birol.
- Peptide drugs for challenging diseases — including human cathelicidin LL-37, AMPs and gonorrhea, mass spectrometry–based discovery of natural AMPs, and cyclotides as peptide therapeutics.
Registration is free and open to all. We hope to see you there!
Register for the Conference →
View the Full Program at UNMC →