Preface -- Message from the President of the American Peptide Society -- Committees of the 19th American Peptide Symposium -- Symposium Sponsors -- Symposium Exhibitors -- The American Peptide Society -- American Peptide Symposia -- The Merrifield Award -- The Makineni Lecture Award -- Achievement Award for Scientific and Administrative Excellence -- Peptide Society Travel Grants -- Bert Schram Young Investigators' Mini-Symposium -- Young Investigators' Poster Competition -- Abbreviations -- Contents -- Merrifield Award Lecture -- Goodman Memorial -- Peptide and Protein Synthesis Strategies -- Biosynthesis of Bioactive Peptides -- New Themes in Anti-Microbials and Quorum Sensing -- Post-Translational Modifications of Peptides and Proteins -- Towards Peptides as Potential Therapeutics -- Peptide and Protein Design -- Peptide Structures in Material Science and Disease -- Peptide and Protein Arrays -- Proteomics and Emerging Technologies -- Author Index -- Subject Index. Understanding Biology Using Peptides: Proceedings of the 19th American Peptide Symposium highlights many of the recent developments in peptide science, with a particular emphasis on how these advances are being applied to basic problems in biology and medicine. Specific topics covered include novel synthetic strategies, peptides in biological signaling, post-translational modifications of peptides and proteins, peptide quaternary structure in material science and disease, and peptides as tools in drug discovery.