BPS 2022
Hormone-Like Peptides from Venomous Animals as Optimized Drug Leads for Disease
Helena Safavi-Hemami
Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
ABSTRACT
Cone snails are predatory marine snails that use complex venoms for prey capture. The majority of venom components are small, disulfide-rich peptides (conotoxins or conopeptides) that target the nervous system of prey. Remarkably, in additional to neurotoxins these marine predators also use specialized insulins to elicit hypoglycemic shock in their fish prey. These insulins are distinctive in having much greater similarity to fish insulin than to the molluscan hormone, and are unique in that they have evolved fast-acting properties that can directly inform on the design of improved insulin analogs for the treatment of diabetes. In this talk I will provide an overview of the discovery and application of these diverse venom insulins and present recent work on other unusual toxins that mimic peptide hormones of their prey.
BIO
Current: Associate Prof. University of Copenhagen, Denmark and Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Utah, USA
Postdoc (2012-2017, University of Utah, USA and University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2011, University of Melbourne, Australia)
MSc in Biology (2006, University of Cologne, Germany)