Report of KU-UNIVIE Joint Grant Program
Section 1
Project title:
Project coordinator (KU)
Name
Position
Faculty, department
Project coordinator (UNIVIE)
Name
Position
Faculty, department

Expanding the capabilities and therapeutic opportunities in
antimicrobial peptide research
Shiroh Futaki
Professor
Institute for Chemical Research (ICR) and Graduate School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University (KU)
Markus Muttenthaler
Associate Professor
Institute of Biological Chemistry (IBC), University of Vienna(UNIVIE)

Period of project

From: 2023/07
To: 2024/03

Project location

KU: þ UNIVIE: þ Other:For events*1(e.g. workshops,seminars, symposia)

Approx.
number ofparticipants

For other exchange
activities (such as
researcher visits and onlinemeetings) *2[KU] Faculty members: Students:
Others:[UNIVIE] Faculty members:
Students:
Other institutions:

Others:*Please attach a participant list if possible. (the list will NOT be publicized)[KU] Faculty members: 15
Students: 30
Others: 5(including those who had discussions with Muttenthaler and attended
his seminar/lecture on Feb. 15 and 29, 2024)[UNIVIE] Faculty members: 20 Students:40
Others: 20(including those who had personal meetings with Futaki and participatedat the Austrian Peptide Symposium, where Futaki gave his lecture andKawaguchi his poster presentation.)
Other institutions:If applicable: URL at which
project outcomes can be viewed(e.g. workshop
notifications/programs/reports,
evidence of academic papers
published or otherwise madeavailable, etc.)

Futaki was invited to 12th Austrian Peptide Symposium when hevisited UNIVIE:
https://www.eurpepsoc.com/a-report-on-the-12th-austrian-peptidesymposium/

If available: Photographs withcaptions

Please see pictures and captions below in Section 2.

*1*2

Please enter the number of participants for each event.
Please count each individual participant once only, even if they participate multiple times.

Section 2
Summary of the project (approx. 200 words)
This project successfully initiated a new collaboration between the University of Vienna (UNIVIE,Muttenthaler Lab) and Kyoto University (KU, Futaki Lab) and established a new framework to support
knowledge and skill transfer and student exchange. Importantly, it brought together complementary
expertise to tackle global challenges: the Futaki group has extensive experience investigating themolecular mechanism of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and the Muttenthaler group is well-versed in
medicinal chemistry and peptide drug discovery, with recent breakthroughs in describing the presence anddisease association of bacterial gastrointestinal biofilms in patients suffering from chronic gut disorders.
Prof. Shiroh Futaki and A/Prof. Yoshimasa Kawaguchi visited UNIVIE in December 2023 and A/Prof.
Muttenthaler and PhD student Bernhard Jandl visited KU in February 2024. Both visits entailed severallectures and meetings with members of the faculties as well as with researchers from other departments
and institutions. The two groups established strategic frameworks and research directions towards thedevelopment of new therapeutic strategies targeting bacterial biofilms in patients suffering from gut
disorders and generated the first preliminary data. Design and synthesis of AMPs was carried out in theMuttenthaler group followed by screening in the Futaki group, yielding the first promising leads. These
results will underpin further collaborative efforts and research endeavours between KU and UNIVIE.

Profs. Shiroh Futaki and Yoshimasa Kawaguchi attended at 12th Austrian Peptide Symposium when
they visited the University of Vienna, where Prof. Futaki held an invited lecture, and Kawaguchi had aposter presentation to introduce their works).

Prof. Muttenthaler and graduate student Bernhard Jandl had several discussions and meetings withyoung faculty members and students of the Futaki laboratory while they stayed in Kyoto.

A/Prof. Muttenthaler held a seminar at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto
University. The lecture was also announced to the members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan.

Muttenthaler and Jandl had discussions with Professors of the Graduate School of PharmaceuticalSciences, Kyoto University, during their visit to Kyoto.