Molecular structure of a peptoid (yellow) bound to drug target proteasome subunit Rpb-13 (blue) from the Trader lab,
Muli, S.. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 147, 27403 (2025).
Berkeley, California
August 5-7, 2026
David Brower Center, Downtown Berkeley
In person • Hybrid option
13th Peptoid Summit
Overview: The Peptoid Summit is a friendly gathering of students, post-docs, research scientists, engineers and PI’s investigating new directions in bio-inspired polymer research and development. The meeting is open to anyone interested in the topic, and we welcome participation from people at all levels of training, as well as from industry, academia or government labs. Peptoids are a highly designable polymer system, allowing unprecedented control over their exact chemical structure. This is leading to advances in a wide range of fields, from biomedicine to materials science. Our community is very interdisciplinary and continues to grow. We warmly welcome students and new investigators. Come join the discussion and help plan the future of this exciting field!
We invite you to join us for three days of oral plenary sessions, poster presentations, lightning rounds, and discussions on the latest developments in peptoid and bio-inspired polymer R&D. As we have for many years, we will convene to share results, conceive new ideas and engage in collaborative discussions. Because we value inclusion of scientists from all over the world, and recognize that travel may be impractical or not allowed in some cases, a hybrid option is planned to enable broad participation.
Fun stuff: We will have a banquet dinner for all attendees at a local restaurant, and our traditional BBQ picnic and frisbee festival at a local park, where the collaborative discussions will continue. All conference attendees will receive a commemorative 13th Peptoid Summit frisbee!
Join us and participate! We are very excited to convene a gathering of the entire peptoid community once again at the beautiful Brower Center in Berkeley. We’d love to hear what science you have been up to – even if it is a work in progress – and invite you to participate in a lively exchange with other active researchers.
-Ron Zuckermann (LBNL), Kent Kirshenbaum (NYU)
(email: icap@peptoids.org)
13th Peptoid Summit details:
Date: August 5-7, 2026
Location: David Brower Center, Berkeley, California
Registration: Opens in March 1st, 2026
Abstract Submission: Opens March 1st, 2026
Featured topics:
✦ New synthetic methods
✦ Computation and modeling
✦ Artificial intelligence and machine learning
✦ Control of chain conformation
✦ Combinatorial discovery technologies
✦ Therapeutic, vaccine and diagnostic applications
✦ Sequence-defined polymers
✦ Protein mimetic materials
✦ Nano/materials science
✦ Scale-up and manufacturing
✦ Commercial applications
Join the Peptoid Summit e-mail list
to get the latest!
Previous Peptoid Summits:
✦ September 2006: 5th Peptoid Summit
✦ August 2008: 6th Peptoid Summit
✦ August 2010: 7th Peptoid Summit
✦ August 2012: 8th Peptoid Summit
✦ August 2015: 9th Peptoid Summit
✦ August 2017: 10th Peptoid Summit
✦ August 2022: 11th Peptoid Summit
✦ August 2024: 12th Peptoid Summit
Help build the peptoid community!
We are currently seeking your involvement to establish two new initiatives. We are looking for volunteers to help with the following two committees:
Web Portal for new investigators: Help establish an online set of resources to welcome and orient new investigators looking to learn about the peptoid field, and provide resources to help them get started.
Peptoid News Magazine: Help solicit and curate student-written 1-page research highlights featuring recent papers from the peptoid field.
Volunteers at all career levels are invited to join these committees. If you are eager to help build tools to support the field, we’d love to have your help to kick off these initiatives. Service on these committees will have a two-year term (2026-2027). Please indicate your interest by completing the ICAP Committee Application form here.
Scenes from the 12th Peptoid Summit
See the full gallery here!
13th Peptoid Summit Advisory Board
Dr. Marcel Baer, Chemical Physics Theory Team, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, WA, USA
Prof. Annelise Barron, Dept. of Bioengineering, Stanford University, USA
Prof. Kevin Bicker, Middle Tennessee State University, TN, USA
Michael Connolly, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA, USA
Dr. Sophie Faure, Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand, Université Clermont Auvergne, France
Prof. Amelia Fuller, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Santa Clara University, CA, USA
Prof. Aaron Lau, Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Prof. Galia Maayan, Department of Chemistry, Technion, Israel
Prof. Biljana Mojsoska, Department of Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark
Prof. Jumpei Morimoto, Department of Chemistry & Biotechnology, University of Tokyo, Japan
Prof. Caroline Proulx, Department of Chemistry, North Carolina Statue University, NC, USA
Prof. Ellen Roberston, Department of Chemistry, Union College, NY, USA
Prof. Jiwon Seo, Department of Chemistry, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwanju, South Korea
Prof. Jing Sun, State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Prof. Helen Tran, Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
The Molecular Foundry
The Peptoid Summit is proudly affiliated with the Molecular Foundry. The Molecular Foundry is a Department of Energy funded interdisciplinary nanoscience research institute at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Foundry is a National User Facility whose mission is to foster innovative research in the synthesis, fabrication and characterization of nano-scale materials, as well as to train the next generation of nano-scientists.
The International Community for
the Advancement of Peptoids
The Peptoid Summit Conferences are produced by the International Community for the Advancement of Peptoids (ICAP). ICAP is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization that works to advance, facilitate, and promote peptoid research and development for the benefit of society. Find out more and get involved! https://icapeptoid.org/about