Protein Termini 2026 – From Mechanisms to Biological Impact
Palermo, Italy
June 3-6, 2026
The 5th biannual meeting of the International Society of Protein Termini (ISPT), will be held at Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo, Italy from Juni 3-6, 2026.
Registration will be open soon.
For updates, please follow @ispt-proteinterm.bsky.social, the official Bluesky account of the ISPT.
Please use #proteintermini2026 and also have a look at #proteintermini2019 and #nterm2017
Protein termini are critical hubs regulating protein fate, folding, localization, and degradation, yet they remain largely overlooked in mainstream conferences. Historically, research on termini has been fragmented across communities studying protein degradation, signaling, or structural biology. However, recent discoveries and technological advances demand a unified perspective.
Breakthroughs include the discovery of terminus-specific enzymes and substrates, mechanistic insights into how terminal modifications dictate protein stability, and new links to organelle homeostasis and stress responses. Cutting-edge approaches—such as N- and C-terminomics, cryo-EM structures of ribosomes bound to terminus modifiers, and terminus-inspired biotechnologies (e.g., PROTACs, tunable half-life tools)—highlight the transformative potential of this field. Yet, no dedicated international forum exists to integrate these advances across biological kingdoms and disciplines, representing both an opportunity and a pressing unmet need.
Programme and uniqueness
The Palermo workshop will explore the fundamental roles of protein termini across kingdoms of life, with emphasis on how terminal modifications regulate protein fate, signaling, and disease. The four-day programme is structured around eight thematic sessions that follow the functional journey of protein termini—from synthesis and co-translational processing, through terminal modifications, stability and signaling, to applications in medicine and biotechnology.
Highlights include two keynote lectures (Beckmann and Hartl), a dedicated session on terminal degrons introduced by Varshavsky (ISPT Lecture), and a closing session on therapeutic innovation. This progression fosters interdisciplinary dialogue across structural biology, cell biology, proteomics, synthetic biology, and translational research.
