Editorial This special issue of Biopolymers contains selected papers from those presented at “The PeptideProtein Bridge,” an international symposium on determination of peptide and protein structure, which took place in Toronto, Canada on June 1014, 1991. The symposium was the fourth in a series of similar conferences held once each decade since the ’60’s which bring together scientists interested in the organic, physical, and biological chemistry of peptides, proteins, and related biopolymers. Previous venues have been the University of Wisconsin, U.S.A. ( 1961); the Weizmann Institute, Israel (1974); and the University of Padua, Italy (1982). The Organizing Committee for the Toronto meeting included C. M. Deber, Toronto (Chair); M. Goodman, La Jolla; H. Kessler, Munich; E. Peggion, Padua; and H. A. Scheraga, Ithaca. Sessions at “The Bridge” were devoted to X-ray crystallography of peptides and proteins; applications of multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to deduction of peptide/protein structure in solution; experimental approaches to analysis of peptide /protein structure and function; computational and predictive methods; molecular design of peptidomimetics; and applications of biotechnology /site-directed mutagenesis to structural analysis of proteins. This mix of approaches brought together theoreticians and experimentalists from biology, chemistry, and physics, for discussions of the current state of knowledge in the field, and for projection of their course for the coming decade. “The Peptide-Protein Bridge” was held under the auspices of the Research Institute, Hospital for sick Children, Toronto, with some events at the University of Toronto. The “Bridge” organizing committee is grateful to Dr. James D. Friesen, Director, Research Institute, and Mr. George Chiasson, Associate Director, Administration, for their commitment to this conference from its inception to its realization. The conference was supported, in part, by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, Ottawa, funded through its Research Partnerships Program

Biopolymers, Vol. 32,307 (1992) 8 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

(P. W. Latour, Director; Claire MacDonald, Grants Officer). The “Bridge” is also pleased to acknowledge the following organizations for their support and generous financial assistance: Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL; Amersham Corp., Arlington Heights, IL; Bachem Fine Chemicals, Torrance, CA; Beckman Instruments, Fullerton, CA; Bruker Spectrospin Canada, Milton, Ont.; Ciba-Geigy Corp., Summit, NJ; Connaught Laboratories, Willowdale, Ont.; Diamalt AG, Munich; E. I. Dupont de Nemours, Wilmington, DE; Fidia Farmaceutici, Abano Terme; Glaxo, Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC; Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc., Nutley, NJ; ICI Pharmaceuticals, Cheshire, UK; Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA; Millipore Corp., Bedford, MA; Monsanto Co., St. Louis, MO; Organon International, Oss, The Netherlands; Parke-Davis, Ann Arbor, MI; Perkin-Elmer Italiana, Milano; Protein Research Foundation, Osaka; Schering-Plough Research, Bloomfield, NJ; SmithKline Beecham, King of Prussia, PA; Squibb Institute for Medical Research, Princeton, NJ; Syntex Research, Palo Alto, CA; UCB-Bioproducts S.A., Braine-L’Alleud; Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo, MI; and Wyeth-Ayerst Research, Philadelphia, PA. I am delighted to take this opportunity also to thank personally all the individuals who jointly contributed in so many ways to the scientific and social success of the conference, from my colleagues on the organizing committee who kept those FAXes coming in, to the on-site people in Toronto, particularly the Division Head in Biochemistry, Amu Sarkar, who provided unflagging encouragement throughout. Thanks are due also to my secretary, Nira Jayanetti, and to the Student Bridge Team for yeoman efforts. I believe this volume of selected papers constitutes a representative record of where we stood as we crossed “The Peptide-Protein Bridge” in 1991. Charles M. Deber Chair of the Peptide Protein Bridge Symposium

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