Snake Venoms

This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of toxinology. It covers all areas of toxinology, including topics like bioterrorism, toxin evolution and toxin based drug development.

Initially, because of the inadequate sensitivity of devices and other limitations, only major venom components of the dominant species were studied. However, in last two decades, increased sensitivity of devices and the development of new techniques, such as transcriptomics and proteomics techniques, have permitted us to analyze the structures and functions of rare species and to identify novel minor components. As a result, the number of venom components identified is increasing dramatically and the physiological functions of each component is more deeply understood. The scope of this book provides the readers an updated and comprehensive presentation on snake venoms. The subjects are divided into six sections, starting with the overview of snake venom compositions in Malaysian species, followed by description of enzymes and enzyme inhibitors contained in snake venoms. Also discussed are the effects of snake venom on cellular receptors, ion channels, blood, and lymph, as well as cytotoxic and antimicrobial molecules present in snake venoms. The last section covers the clinical consequences of envenomation and the management of snakebites using antivenins.

Provides a complete, current and comprehensive overview of snake venoms Contributes to a series on all areas of toxinology, representing a valuable reference tool Presents the work of experts from all around the world Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Auteur
P. Gopalakrishnakone, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., F.A.M.S., D.Sc., is professor of anatomy and chairman of the Venom and Toxin Research Programme at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, where he has become an emeritus professor. In addition, he also has assumed the position of professor of anatomy at the Singapore Institute of Technology, Health and Social Sciences Cluster. Prof. Gopalakrishnakone is also a consultant to the Defence Science Organization in Singapore; adjunct senior research scientist at the Defence Medical Research Institute; and an honorary principal fellow at the Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne, Australia. His research studies include structure function studies, toxin detection, biosensors, antitoxins and neutralization factors, toxicogenomics and expression studies, antimicrobial peptides from venoms and toxins, and PLA2 inhibitors as potential drug candidates for inflammatory diseases. The techniques he employs include quantum dots to toxinology, computational biology, microarrays, and protein chips. Prof. Gopalakrishnakone has more than 160 international publications, four books, about 350 conference presentations, and 10 patent applications. He has been an active member of the International Society on Toxinology (IST) for 30 years and was president from 2008 to 2012. He is also the founder president of its Asia Pacific Section, a council member, as well as an editorial board member of Toxicon, the society's official journal. His research awards include the Outstanding University Researcher Award from the National University of Singapore (1998); Ministerial Citation, NSTB Year 2000 Award in Singapore; and the Research Excellence Award from the Faculty of Medicine at NUS (2003). His awards in teaching include Faculty Teaching Excellence Award 2003/4 and NUS Teaching Excellence Award 2003/4. Prof. Gopalakrishnakone also received the Annual Teaching Excellence Award in 2010 at both university and faculty levels.

Hidetoshi Inagaki is senior researcher at the National Institute ofAdvanced Industrial Science and Technology, in Japan, since 2001, working on the bioactive peptides of venomous animals, such as snakes and ants. During that time, from April 2006 to March2007, he worked at CSTP (Council for Science and Technology Policy) on the Guidelines on the Derivation and Distribution of Human Embryonic Stem Cells and other science policies. From April 1994 to March 2001, Inagaki was a researcher at the National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya, Japan. Inagaki received his Ph.D. from Nagoya University, Japan, in 1994, with time spent in Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, United States, from August 1991 to March 1992. He was also a graduate (April 1989­March 1991) and an undergraduate (April 1984March 1989) at Nagoya University, Japan. For last five years, his research group has been working on the directed evolution of bioactive peptides. Using directed evolution, the group could generate agonist and antagonist like molecules of receptors, and enzyme inhibitors.

Carl-Wilhelm Vogel received his M.D. degree and Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University of Hamburg in Germany. For three-and-a-half years, Dr. Vogel was a postdoctoral research fellow in molecular immunology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California. He completed a medical internship in Germany and four years of residency training in clinical pathology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and at Indiana University/Purdue University in Indianapolis. He is a licensed physician and a board-certified clinical pathologist both in the USA and Germany. He was on the faculty of Georgetown University School of Medicine for approximately nine years in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Internal Medicine, and a member of the Lombardi Cancer Center, before assuming the chairmanship of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Hamburg in 1990. In 1999 he became Director of the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii at the University of Hawaii, a position he held for about a decade. He currently is a full professor at the same institution. His research interests have been in the area of basic biomedical research with particular emphasis on the immunological aspects of cancer as well as the development of novel therapeutic concepts for diseases with complement pathogenesis, based on the complement-depleting activity of cobra venom factor. His research has been supported continuously by peer-reviewed grants since 1983, mainly from the National Institutes of Health. He is the author of well over 100 publications and patents.

Ashis K. Mukherjee is currently serving as a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Tezpur University, Assam, India. Dr. A. K. Mukherjee received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry (Hons.) from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, in 1990 and a Master of Science in Biochemistry from the same university in 1992. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 1998 from the Department of Biochemistry, Burdwan Medical College, Burdwan University, India. His topic of Ph.D. research was on biochemistry and pathophysiology of Indian cobra and Russell's Viper venom. The current research activity of Dr. Mukherjee broadly includes biochemistry and drug discovery from snake venom as well as microbial biotechnology. His research has been funded by several extramural research grants. In addition to receiving several other prestigious awards, he was awarded a DST-BOYSCAST fellowship from the Government of India to work on spider venom toxins at the University of Connecticut Health Center, in Connecticut, USA (20022003), and the DBT-Crest award (20112012) from the Government of India to work as a visiting scientists at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, in Colorado, USA. He is the recipient of Best Researcher Award of Tezpur Univeristy in 2008. Dr. Mukherjee has published more than sixty research papers in peer-reviewed journals and contributed several book chapters. He is Editor-in-Chief of the newsletter published by the Toxinological Society of India, besides being the editorial bo…