## 1 Introduction  
The World Health Organization, the CDC, and the Pew Charitable Trust all describe the current lack of new antibiotics and emerging antibiotic resistance as a crisis. There is an urgent need for new antibiotics that are active against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria and biofilm-forming wound infections. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a promising source for the development of innovative and potent antibiotics and antibioofilm compounds. The World Health Organization has specified the pathogens that are a critical and high priority for the development of novel antimicrobial agents [1, 2]. These bacteria are commonly associated with biofilm-mediated wound infections such as combat wounds, blast wounds, burns, and chronic non-healing ulcers [3, 4]. This group (called \"ESKAPE\" pathogens, from the first letter of each bacterium) includes both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and _Enterococcus ficecium_, _Staphylococcus aureus_, _Klebsiella pneumoniae_, _Acinetobacter baumaniii_, _Pseudomonas aeruginosa_, and _Enterobacter_ species. These bacteria can infect wounds alone or in combination with other bacteria and are often multidrug-resistant. Biofilm is an extracellular sticky substance produced by bacteria that bindsthem to tissues and medical hardware, enables them to avoid antibiotics and the immune system, and directly aggravates the wound bed, prolonging and worsening the infection [5]. These bacteria alone and in mixed infections produce considerable amounts of biofilm as part of their pathology [6; 7]. Often, these pathogens are antibiotic-resistant or multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, which further complicates the treatment of these infections. Of special concern in the context of complex combat wounds is the emergence of MDR _A. baumantii_[3; 8; 9]. [PERSON] et al. identified this organism in the infected wounds of many military personnel who participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom and other military operations [4; 10; 11; 12]. _A. baumantii_ is often highly multidrug-resistant, and thus is a specific target of our work [13], as new antibacterial approaches are critically needed. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small peptide molecules (usually less than 50 amino acids) that can kill bacteria directly and/or inhibit the ability of bacteria to form biofilms. We have studied as well as invented multiple AMPs with direct antibacterial activity against these pathogens, including _S. aureus_[14; 15; 16], _K. pneumoniae_[17], _A. baumantii_[16; 17], and _P. aeruginosa_[14; 16; 18]. Our group has also identified AMPs with activity against biotherat pathogens _Francisella tulareis_[19; 20; 21], _Burkholderia thailandensis_[22], and _Bacillus anthracis_[23]. We have characterized many AMPs against a range of gram-positive and gram-negative human pathogens, including _A. baumantii_[14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 20; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30]. We have also identified and studied the activity of many AMPs with antibioofilm properties [14; 18; 19]. The human cathelcidin LL-37 has been extensively studied for host- and pathogen-directed functions. It has been previously demonstrated that LL-37 possesses antimicrobial activity against MDR _P. aeruginosa_, methicillin-resistant _S. aureus_, and vancomycin-resistant _E. ficeum_[31]. The peptide was also shown to have antibacterial and antibioofilm activities against MDR _A. baumantii_[32]. The antibacterial activity of WLBU2 (PLG0206), a synthetic peptide that is rich in arginine, was tested, and results showed strong activity against extensively drug-resistant (XDR) _A. baumantii_ and _K. pneumoniae_ with low reported MIC [33]. This peptide is currently in Phase 1 clinical trial [34]. A synthetic and non-toxic analog of Pseudin-2, Pse-T2, was shown to be effective against MDR strains of _Escherichia coli_, _P. aeruginosa_, and _S. aureus_ with biofilm-inhibitory effects [35]. The in vivo activity of Pse-T2 was assessed using a mouse wound model infected with MDR _P.