EuroTides & EuroPEPTIDES

Over 200 oligonucleotide and peptide professionals converged on the Maritim proArte Hotel in Berlin this November to hear the latest developments in early discovery through to clinical development and manufacturing processes.

With two tracks for each conference, there was an abundance of talks from both academic and industry innovators with a very interested and engaged audience. Dr Lars Fogh Iverson, Executive Vice President at Novo Nordisk in Denmark, who spoke in the EuroPeptides opening plenary on GLP-1 engineering, commented on the assembly “Intelligent questions from very experienced professionals in the peptide modification space”.

In the exhibition and refreshments area, oligonucleotide and peptide manufacturers were kept busy during the breaks, taking full advantage of this extremely apposite networking platform. The PolyPeptide Group in particular who’ve supported the event previously were so excited about the event, it seemed they couldn’t wait to come back again.

EuroTides talks covered both antisense and RNA Oligos, with great excitement over exciting research showing RNA silencing can take place in the nucleus. In his keynote talk on RNAi in cell nuclei, David Corey, from UT Southwestern Medical Center in the USA, headed caution saying, “The rules for RNA silencing are clearly different in the nucleus than in the cytosol”.

Attendees were very happy with the focus and content of discussions, accomplished Oligo expert Fritz Eckstein, from the Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine in Goettingen, said the event showed that ‘the field had progressed tremendously’ and was looking forward to the next big break through, possibly involving Oligonucleotide Aptamers.