Name: Natalie Boyle

Date: 9/29/14

Periodic-als Science in the News

Topic selected: Peptide Chemistry
Why did you select this topic?
I selected this topic because it stood out to me in the magazine. It is very important that more
people will be receiving helpful medicines and medical help.

Why is this topic currently on a news headline?
This topic is currently on the news because it is a major breakthrough in health care. For
many decades researchers have been studying the venoms of snakes and poisonous animals
and now it will finally be used to help people.


Facts Source 1

Source one title: From Toxins to Treatments
MLA Citations - Kupferschmidt, K. "From Toxins to Treatments." Science 342.6163 (2013):
1162-164. Web.


1. The peptides and proteins in jararacussu venom can latch on to molecules that
regulate blood pressure and coagulation, causing a crash of the cardiovascular system
and death.
2. Other snakes produce toxins that can damage the nervous system, paralyzing the
victim.
3. Snake venom interferes with key pathways in the body which is exactly what drugs
are supposed to do.
4. It can take years to successfully identify and purify a peptide.
5. Hidden in complex mixtures produced by snakes venom glands are strings of amino
acids that can dull pain, lower blood pressure, and more.
6. Peptides yet to be found might prevent heart attacks or even treat cancer.
7. Estimated more than 170,000 venomous animals.
8. Research on venoms for medicine started in 1960s when Brazilian researchers found
that lancehead viper venom dramatically lowered blood pressure.
9. Scientists recently reported that the venom of the Chinese red-headed centipede
contains powerful painkillers.
10. Ziconotide, a peptide in cone snail venom, was approved in 2004 to treat chronic pain;
exenatide, isolated by from the saliva of the of a venomous lizard and has become a
blockbuster drug for type 2 diabetes.
11. Nav 1.7 is a protein channel that allows less sodium to flow to the human cells, it
makes people insensitive to all types of pain. Scientists found that you can treat pain by
disrupting that channel using small molecules. The venom from a Chinese red-headed
centipede specifically blocks Nav 1.7 and this could lead to powerful pain therapy.
12. As peptide medicine becomes more popular, most will have to be taken by injectables
because stomach acid is too strong and will dissolve the venom.
13. A new discovery from king cobras venom has uncovered an 11 amino acid peptide
that is supposedly 20 to 200 times more potent than morphine and is taken orally.
14. Scientists use two main forms of technologies that allow them to quickly identify
unknown peptides: mass spectrometry and next-generation sequencing.
15. Pain therapy is a particularly promising area, venom experts say.

Facts Source 2

Source title: The Bite that Heals
MLA Citation "The New Age of Exploration." Venom: The Bite That Heals. N.p., n.d. Web. 30
Sept. 2014.

1. The bark scorpion,Centruroides sculpturatus, is one of the most venomous species in
North America.
2. The complex soup swirls with toxic proteins and peptidesshort strings of amino acids
similar to proteins.
3. Venom can kill by clotting blood and stopping the heart or by preventing clotting and
triggering a killer bleed.
4. All venom is multifaceted and multitasking. (The difference between venom and
poison is that venom is injected, or dibbled, into victims by way of specialized body
parts, and poison is ingested.)
5. Many venom toxins target the same molecules that need to be controlled to treat
diseases.
6. Its active components those peptides and proteins, working as toxins and
enzymes,target particular molecules, fitting into them like keys in to locks. Most
medicines work the same way, fitting into and controlling molecular locks to thwart ill
effects.
7. Crystallized venom from the snakes is now a medical export from Azerbaijan.
8. The science of transforming venoms into cures took off in the 1960s, when an English
clinician named Hugh Alistair Reid suggested that the venom of the Malayan pit viper
might be used against deep-vein thrombosis. Hed discovered that one of the snakes
toxins, a protein called ancrod, saps a fibrous protein from the blood, preventing
clotting.
9. Venom has to be modified at the molecular level, resized and tinkered with to survive
the harsh effects of the human digestive system.
10. Gila, a specific lizard, venom that controls blood sugar and even reduces appetite. This
specific lizard eats at most, 3 meals a year. It stores the fat in its tail and controlls
sugar levels. It works like a natural hormone, stimulating cells to deal with sugar
overload but remaining inactive when sugar levels are normal.
11. With almost 25 million people suffering from type 2 diabetes in the U.S. alone, the
Gila monster is nothing short of a medical superhero.
12. A neurotoxin from the venom of the giant deathstalker scorpion has been found to
attach to the surface of brain cancer cells.
13. No drugs based on scorpion cells have been approved yet they have been tested to help
cardiac, painkilling, anti-seizure, and antimalarial drugs. Theres even a possible
pesticide.
14. Five compounds from the cone snails have made it to human trials, and one
morphine-like pain drug, ziconotide, has resulted. Ziconotide is chemically identical to
the component the snail makes.
15. The medical potential of venom is very impressive yet the resources are not consistent.
Snakes constantly change their venom compounds depending where they are and
there is too much variety so the research is very extensive.