Guest Editors
Julien Tailhades
Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Chemistry Team Leader - Antimicrobial Research Matters
Dr Julien Tailhades is the chemistry leader in Associate Professor Max Cryle's group at Monash University. Before that, he received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Montpellier (France) in 2010. He was then a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie (France) and at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne (Australia) with Prof. John Wade, where his research interests principally involved medicinal chemistry on insulin-like and proline-rich antimicrobial peptides. In 2016, he joined Monash University (Australia) to work on new synthetic strategies and application of glycopeptide antibiotics.
Nitin Patil
Monash University, Biomedicine Discovery Institute
Dr Nitin Patil is an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council’s Peter Doherty Fellow. Dr Patil completed his Master of Pharmacy in 2008 at NMIMS University (India), and joined Piramal Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. as a Medicinal Chemist. He was involved in the design and synthesis of anticancer and anti-inflammatory small molecules, which includes phase II candidate, P7170. His doctoral research was focused on the synthesis and structure-function studies on insulin-like peptides. In 2018, he joined Monash University (Australia) as ‘Bridging Postdoctoral Fellow’, where he developed expertise in peptide antibiotics, peptide-oligonucleotide bioconjugation and synthetic oligonucleotides. Subsequently, Dr Patil received NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellowship and currently he leads a team of vibrant medicinal chemists. The overarching aim of his research is to address the challenges of drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria by developing peptide and oligonucleotide-based therapeutics.
Collection Overview
Peptide and oligonucleotide chemistry underpins a vast array of innovations in therapeutics, diagnostics, biomaterials, and chemical biology. Their modularity allows the creation of precision drugs, molecular probes, programmable assemblies, and hybrid architectures, yet realizing these advances depends on robust, versatile methodologies. From sequence design and solid-phase synthesis to structural interrogation and biological delivery, the discipline requires integrated strategies that span chemistry, biology, computation, and engineering.
Progress in this field has been remarkable, but significant hurdles remain. Researchers face persistent challenges in controlling sequence complexity, integrating diverse chemistries, ensuring scalability and sustainability, and deciphering higher-order structure and function in biologically relevant environments. Achieving robust performance in therapeutic, analytical, and material contexts also demands greater reproducibility, cross-disciplinary integration, and innovative solutions for stability, delivery, and regulatory compliance.
This Collection aims to highlight the full spectrum of approaches for designing, synthesizing, modifying, purifying, and evaluating peptides, oligonucleotides, and their conjugates. It will include methodologies (but not limited to) for automated and solution-phase synthesis, selective ligation, conjugation chemistries, structure–function optimization, high-throughput screening, delivery and formulation, stability testing, advanced structural and spectroscopic analysis, and data-driven or microfluidic platforms. By uniting diverse techniques, the collection will provide an authoritative, forward-looking reference for researchers across chemistry, biotechnology, and materials science.
Offering a single, rigorously curated resource will accelerate discovery, improve reproducibility, and catalyze translation of laboratory advances into new diagnostics, therapeutics, and functional materials.
