biostudies-literatureUnknown19(3)Robinson JAThis review highlights the growing importance of protein epitope mimetics in the discovery of new biologically active molecules and their potential applications in drug and vaccine research. The focus is on folded β-hairpin mimetics, which are designed to mimic β-hairpin motifs in biologically important peptides and proteins. An ever-growing number of protein crystal structures reveal how β-hairpin motifs often play key roles in protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions. This review illustrates how using protein structures as a starting point for small-molecule mimetic design can provide novel ligands as protein-protein interaction inhibitors, as protease inhibitors, and as ligands for chemokine receptors and folded RNA targets, as well as novel antibiotics to combat the growinJournal of peptide science : an official publication of the European Peptide Society127-40https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC3592999biostudies-literatureMax Bergmann lecture protein epitope mimetics in the age of structural vaccinology.PMC3592999Robinson JAfalseMax Bergmann lecture protein epitope mimetics in the age of structural vaccinology.This review highlights the growing importance of protein epitope mimetics in the discovery of new biologically active molecules and their potential applications in drug and vaccine research. The focus is on folded β-hairpin mimetics, which are designed to mimic β-hairpin motifs in biologically important peptides and proteins. An ever-growing number of protein crystal structures reveal how β-hairpin motifs often play key roles in protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions. This review illustrates how using protein structures as a starting point for small-molecule mimetic design can provide novel ligands as protein-protein interaction inhibitors, as protease inhibitors, and as ligands for chemokine receptors and folded RNA targets, as well as novel antibiotics to combat the growin2013-01-01T00:00:00Z2013 Mar2025-06-01T04:09:05.639Z2019-03-27T01:05:50ZS-EPMC35929992334903110.1002/psc.2482