Please congratulate Dr Evelyne Deplazes on her $32,000 early career grant award from the Cancer Council WA. An article published today in The West Australian can be seen here:
Curtin University researchers use spider venom in cancer fight
https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/spider-venom-could-kill-cancer-ng-b88429912z
Perth researchers are investigating venom from an exotic spider as a possible anti-cancer drug.
A Curtin University computational chemist has been awarded a $32,000 early career grant to study whether peptides from a Brazilian spider can kill cancer cells while sparing healthy cells.
The grant is part of $4 million in cancer research funding being announced today by Cancer Council WA.
The study will investigate a molecule called gomesin, which has been isolated from a Brazilian spider and has been shown to kill cancer cells.
Researcher Evelyne Deplazes will combine computer simulations and experiments to study the gomesin’s anti-cancer activity in the hope it will help to develop an anti-cancer drug that is less likely to cause chemotherapy resistance.
Dr Deplazes, a research fellow from the school of biomedical science and the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, said she wanted to establish how peptides — the molecules that naturally occur in spider venom — worked at the molecular level.
There are no Brazilian spiders in WA so the peptides have to be imported.
“I think it’s a fascinating area to investigate because we think of venomous animals as deadly but actually they’re incredibly clever in targeting the nervous system of their prey which is very difficult to achieve from a drug development point of view,” Dr Deplazes said.
She said Australia was blessed with many venomous animals which formed a “chemistry treasure chest”, and the venom from these animals contained molecules and chemicals that could potentially be used to make drugs, insecticides and anti-parasitic compounds.
Dr Deplazes said drugs based on venom peptides might be less likely to cause chemotherapy resistance. She hopes to build a research group in this field in WA.
Source: The West Australian
