TSRI Scientists Discover Method for Using Venom Optimally

Scientists noted how venom holds potential to eventually be converted into medicine, and have been trying to find ways to use venom for therapeutic use. They have been trying to find several methods in being able to do so, and think they have finally found a lucrative way.

“Now a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has invented a method for rapidly identifying venoms that strike a specific target in the body—and optimizing such venoms for therapeutic use.

The researchers demonstrated the new method by using it to identify venoms that block a certain protein on T cells—a protein implicated in multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory disorders. The researchers then used their method to find an optimized, long-acting variant of a venom that blocks this protein and showed that the new molecule powerfully reduces inflammation in mice.

“Until now we haven’t had a way to seriously harness venoms’ vast therapeutic potential,” said principal investigator Richard A. Lerner, Lita Annenberg Hazen Professor of Immunochemistry at TSRI.”

Read the full article: TSRI scientists discover new method for harnessing venoms for therapeutic use