Dear colleagues, Dear friends,

Therapeutic peptides and peptide-like compounds have shown great promise in treating various major health issues including pain, hypertension, hemostasis, inflammatory and infectious diseases. Bioactive peptides are particularly abundant in nature and most of them can be grouped into four major families: peptidic hormones, toxins, immuno-modulators and antimicrobial peptides. Although closely related, there are surprisingly little interactions among these four areas. Therefore, one of the primary goals of the NP2D congress is to bring together worldwide leading experts from these fields.

All started in July 2002 on the Australian great coral reef during the “Venoms to Drugs” meeting in Heron Island: a wonderful event in a wonderful place. Paul Alewood, Daniel Bertrand, Richard Lewis, André Ménez, Baldomero Olivera, Mike Pennington, Reto Stöcklin and other participants discussed the future of the meeting and possible alternative opportunities. This reactivated an old dream of Dimitrios Noukakis and Reto Stöcklin consisting in planning the organisation of a unique event in Zermatt, Switzerland. One year later, the idea was further discussed with Paul Alewood, Philippe Bulet, José de Chastonay, Robin Offord and Mike Pennington during the American Peptide Symposium in Philadelphia. As a result, a small group of us took the initiative to prepare a rather challenging event for the end of 2004: an international congress entitled “Natural Peptides to Drugs - NP2D” at the foot of the majestic Matterhorn Mountain. The meeting was a true success and we received many encouraging messages that led us to organise a second successful edition of the meeting in spring 2006 and a third one in 2008.  So, here we are again for the fourth edition 11 to 14 April 2010, more than happy to welcome you all at what we hope will be another exciting and stimulating event. We feel really encouraged by the numerous contributions from outstanding scientists with diverse specialities, representing companies and universities from all over the world.

While some will attend NP2D for the first time, many of you already belong to the faithful participants, and we thank you all for your confidence.
Last but not least, we designed the programme with the deliberate wish to strongly favour the development of long-term relationships through a variety of social activities and side events. This is one of the reasons why the village of Zermatt, in the hearth of the Swiss Alps, has been chosen and the number of participants is strictly limited. We believe that the high alpine scenery, abundant snow, fresh air and wonderful surroundings will be a fantastic natural environment to stimulate a warm and friendly atmosphere.

We would like to thank you all, participants, exhibitors and sponsors alike, for having joined us in this venture, and wish you will enjoy a few wonderful days during this fourth NP2D congress. We will certainly do our best to make sure that you will leave Zermatt with the desire to renew the experience!

The Organisers