Amphibians are ancient creatures that have evolved effective mechanisms to cope with a variety of microbes that they encounter in those ecological niches where they often live, such as ponds, soil, or mud. One of their first defense systems to challenge microbial infections includes gene-encoded antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that are synthesized and stored in dermal glands, adrenergically innervated, and secreted into the skin mucus upon alarm or injury. Noteworthy, AMPs are the main components of innate immunity – a weapon that we all are “born with” – to rapidly face harmful microorganisms, in both vertebrates and invertebrates species.
Emeritus Hans G. Boman
I would like to dedicate this special issue on Amphibian Antimicrobial Peptides to Professor Emeritus Hans G. Boman, who passed away on December 3, 2008, and with whom I was personally lucky to work with at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. His original scientific ideas and charismatic personality, which led him assembling exciting and creative research environments, deeply attracted me to the field of peptide-mediated innate-immunity.
Maria Luisa Mangoni
Maria Luisa Mangoni graduated in Biology with honors at La Sapienza University of Rome. In 1998, she was awarded a fellowship to work at the Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, where she began studying in depth the role of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in innate immunity, using amphibia as an in vivo model system, under the supervision of Professor Emeritus Hans G. Boman. In 2002, she received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from La Sapienza University. Subsequently, she was appointed as an assistant professor at the Second Faculty of Medicine (Azienda Ospedaliera S. Andrea) of La Sapienza University.
