Quanta Inc (fka QNTA)

[JediMozart]

Interesting read “The bite that cures: how we’re turning venom into medicine”

https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/the-bite-that-cures-how-were-turning-venom-into-medicine/amp/

[{. “You can’t get much more exotic than venomous animals and that’s where scientists are turning their attention. Venoms are cocktails made up of between tens and hundreds of different toxins, usually proteins and smaller chains of amino acids similar to proteins called peptides, “

“It’s evolution that’s made venom such a good source of drugs, says Dr Zoltan Takacs, a Hungarian-born scientist-adventurer who founded the World Toxin Bank. “Venom toxins are among the most potent and precision-targeted molecules on Earth,”
Scorpion TARGETS: Cancer, muscular dystrophy, chronic pain, erectile dysfunction

Scorpion venom could be medically useful as a way of marking up brain tumour cells for surgery, as it’s tough for surgeons to identify where a tumour ends and healthy cells begin. If they err on the side of caution, cancer cells get left behind. If they get too knife-happy, then healthy cells are cut out alongside cancer. Chlorotoxin, a component of venom from the cheerily named deathstalker scorpion, binds to tumour cells. Adding a fluorescent tag means that tumours ‘light up’, allowing a surgeon to clearly see their boundaries. This ‘tumour paint’, developed by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the US, has been tested in animals and is now being trialled in people.”}]