Antimicrobial peptides hold promise as the next generation of antimicrobial agents. However, the potential is weakened by their susceptibility to proteolytic degradation, poor bioavailabillity , toxicity and high cost. Our research interest is in determining the structure/activity relationships of these antimicrobial peptides, which enables us to better understand their mechanism of action and facilitates the development of lead antimicrobial agents. As an example, in this talk I will focus on our work on anoplin and analogues, a decapeptide isolated from the Japanese wasp Anoplius samariensis. I will describe the elucidation of their structure/activity relationships, and our efforts towards developing them into antibiotics.