Venom research

Venom research studies the molecules animals use to affect other organisms, how those molecules act, and how they may inform medicine.

Animal toxin: A biologically produced substance that harms or disrupts another organism’s functions. Venom research identifies and characterizes the toxic molecules within venoms.
Captopril: A medication that lowers blood pressure by inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme. Its development drew on a peptide found in Brazilian pit viper venom.
Mass spectrometry: An analytical method that identifies molecules by measuring their mass-to-charge ratios. It helps identify venom components in complex mixtures.
Snake venom: A mixture of biologically active substances produced by venomous snakes. Its varied effects make it a major focus of toxin characterization and antivenom research.
Francesco Redi: A seventeenth-century Italian physician and naturalist who tested claims about animal poisons experimentally. His experiments challenged inherited explanations of snakebite and helped establish direct investigation.
Ion channel: A membrane protein that lets selected ions cross a cell membrane. Many venom components alter ion channels to disrupt nerve or muscle activity.
Ziconotide: A non-opioid medication for severe chronic pain, derived from a cone-snail toxin. It shows how a venom peptide can become a targeted pain treatment.
Proteomics: The large-scale study of proteins, including their abundance and variation. Venom proteomics compares the proteins and peptides present in venom samples.
Cone snail venom: A mixture of peptide toxins produced by predatory marine snails of the family Conidae. Its precise effects on nerve signaling have yielded valuable drug candidates and research tools.
Felice Fontana: An eighteenth-century Italian naturalist who studied the effects of viper venom. His detailed experiments helped make venom a subject of systematic physiological study.

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