Year: 2008
Type: editorial
Abstract: The importance and prevalence of peptide science makes it perhaps too easy to label as a “mature” discipline, with the suggestion of a certain stodginess or grown-up quality to the field. But this is not the case! Unlike some scientific areas that progress through a lifecycle of birth, growth and gradual demise as researchers use them as stepping stones to more advanced discoveries, peptide science is an immortal one. It will, for generations to come, continue to fuel innovations and advances in diverse fields, ranging from biomedicine to materials science, from nanotechnology to molecular diagnostics. In this role, it remains a perpetual and precocious youth prodding along progress in these areas by posing novel questions and providing valuable tools to explore and validate key hypotheses. While the field of peptide science may remain forever young, its practitioners unfortunately do not. We are therefore filled with great confidence in the future of peptide science by the impressive ensemble of articles from our youngest members. For this special “Young Investigator” issue, we have solicited manuscripts from the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who will be among the future leaders of the field. With an aim to provide these young scientists with the full and complete picture of scientific publication and peer-review process, we invited them not only to present their articles as corresponding authors, but also to participate in reviewing their colleagues' manuscripts. After the announcement of this special issue was made, we have received a number of manuscripts from young peptide chemists, and many of them joined with others to carry out the peer-review process. Despite some concerns raised by senior members, we were very impressed by their active participation as well as their highly critical comments and suggestions to each other. The quality and diversity of science, coupled with the maturity and professionalism of the young authors has been quite inspiring, ranging from structure-activity studies to novel peptide constructs with special functions, from polymer materials to molecular diagnostics. We, as guest editors, are delighted and humbled to see a bright future for the field of peptide science. We learned as well that this young talent pool is even deeper than those authors contributing to this special issue, as many of the peer reviewers were selected from an extended group of young and promising experts in the field. We hope you will enjoy this special collection of articles from the “youth” of our field and take a moment to congratulate these scientists on a job well done.
Source: Biopolymers
DOI: 10.1002/bip.21027
Authors: Jung‐Mo Ahn, Jeffrey W. Bode
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2042659001