The Fifth Chinese Peptide Symposium, hosted by Lanzhou University, was held at Lanzhou, China July 14-17, 1998, with 156 participants, including 30 scientists from abroad, representing nine countries. The four-day conference was both intense and spiritually rewarding. Our goal for CPS-98 was to provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge, cooperation and friendship between the international and Chinese scientific communities, and we believe this goal was met. The symposium consisted of 8 sessions with 42 oral and 90 poster presentations, including synthetic methods, molecular diversity and peptide libraries, structure and conformation of peptides and proteins, bioactive peptides, peptide immunology, De Novo design and synthesis of proteins and peptides, ligand-receptor interactions, the chemistry-biology-interface and challenging problems in peptides. The enthusiastic cooperation and excellent contributions were gratifying and the active response of the invited speakers contributed to the success of the symposium. The presentations were of excellent caliber and represented the most current and significant aspects of peptide science. Dr. Kit Lam of the University of Arizona and Dr. Yun-Hua Ye of Peking University were the recipients of The Cathay Award sponsored by the H. H. Liu Education Foundation, offered for their seminal contribution in peptide science and the Chinese Peptide Symposium. Four outstanding young scientists were selected by the organizing committee to receive awards sponsored by Haikou Nanhai Pharmaceutical Industry Co. Ltd. (Zhong He Group).

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Preface. Chinese Peptide Symposium - 1998. Session A: Novel approach on synthetic method. Orthogonal ligation of free peptides; J.P. Tam, et al. Solid phase synthesis of peptide aldehydes; J.-A. Fehrentz, et al. Investigation of enzyme activity and inhibition in the interior of novel solid supports; M. Meldal, et al. Immobilization of alpha-chymotrypsin on zeolite for peptide synthesis in organic solvent; Y.-H. Ye, et al. Preparation of a peptide thioester using a fluoren-9-ylmethoxycarbonyl solid-phase method; X.-Q. Li. Application of DEPBT for the synthesis of N-protected peptide alcohols; G.-L. Tian, et al. Decomposition of amino acid cupric complex by using tetrahydrothiazole-2-thione for preparation of Nalpha-Boc-Nepsilon-Fmoc-L-Lysine; X.-M. Gao, et al. Two-step selective formation of three disulfide bridges in the synthesis of delta-Conotoxin P VIA; H. Jiang, et al. Session B: Structure, folding and conformation analysis/De novo design of peptide & protein. Design, synthesis and NMR structure of a rigid cyclic peptide template; S.A. Muhle, J.P. Tam. Automated docking of Sch68631 with HCV NS3 protease; X.-J. Xu. Molecular modeling of the three-dimensional structure of the human interleukin-11; L.-R. Chen, et al. Designing beta-hairpin forming short peptide; Y.-L. Sha, et al. Anti-tumor activities of papavor somniferum pollen peptides; J.-X. Xu, S. Jin. Structural investigation of two pollen peptides by 2D homonuclear NMR spectroscopy; Y.-L. Song, et al. A comparison of three heuristic algorithms for molecular docking; T.-J. Hou, et al. Aggregation of a calmodulin-binding peptide; H.-S. Yan, et al. Session C: Neuro/Endocrino/Bioactive peptide. Neuropeptide AVP(4-8) playing an indirect neurotrophic role; Q.-W. Yan, et al. Potent bradykinin antagonists having medical potential; J.M. Stewart, et al. Understanding the chemistry and biology of rodent relaxin: Role of the C-peptide; J.D. Wade, et al. Purification and characterization of a new conotoxin from the venom of Conus betulinu; C.-X. Fan, et al. Synthesis and biological activity of human calcitonin analogs; C. Yu, et al. Enhanced expression of CNDF mRNA in rat brain by administration of AVP(4-8); W.-X. Li, et al. The synthesis and opioid activities of nociceptin and its fragments; S.-L. Dong, et al. The effect of Glu position change on the opioid activity of deltorphin II; R. Wang, et al. Isolation and purification of a series of peptides from Panax notoginseng; J.-G. Ji, et al. Study of the relationship between structure and function of HIV-1 gp 41 N terminus fusion peptide; M. Wu, et al. Hypotensive activities of nociceptin and its fragments; R. Wang, et al. The design and synthesis of endomorphins and their analogues; X.-F. Huo, et al. Neuronal apoptosis induced by &bgr;-amyloid peptides in vitro; W.-X. Li, et al. Studies on the spin-labeling technique on deltorphin II and its analogues; D.-J. Yang, et al. Design and synthesis of salmon calcitonin and its analogues; H.-P. Pan, et al. Studies on the synthesis and antithrombosis activity of two peptides derived from the molecular--binding site of fibrinogen; X.-Y. Hu. Synthesis and expression of &ohgr;-conotoxin MVIIA; M.-Y. Cai, X.-M. Qu. Session D: Peptide Vaccines/Immunology/Virus. Studies on the synthetic peptide vaccines against schistosomiasis; S.-L. Cao, et a