Method Repertoire
Modern venom research is a highly interdisciplinary field and requires expertise in a large diversity of methods and protocols. Over the years, we have developed and optimised a range of venom-tailored approaches that are depicted below. We particularly emphasise "functional venomics", the combination of systems-biology-based venom profiling with biotechnological production of toxins and bioassays for key activities. This allows us to disentangle venom compositions and understand the biological and translational significance of venom toxins.
Venomics
Our key expertise is the rigorous application of modern venomics technologies to unveil entire venom compositions and to identify particularly interesting molecules. We routinely carry out transcriptomic analyses of venom gland samples and have developed a series of in-house scripts for that purpose that merge multiple assembly approaches. We further are well-positioned to perform proteomics (bottom-up, top-down, and mass fingerprinting) as well as traditional protein profiling (SDS-PAGE, RP-HPLC) of venom. We are further increasing our efforts to utilise genomic data as well. We have applied these skills to examine the venom profiles from animals across the entire venomous tree of life, especially in arachnids, reptiles and insects.
Venom System Morphology
Venom delivery is an important element to understand the ecological framework in which venom is applied, the constraints under which it functions and how venom expenditure is modulated. Hence, we implemented a range of morphological methods, ranging from simple light microscopy, to histology, and CT scanning into our repertoire. Thanks to that, we are able to investigate venom system architecture and to tremendously increase our understanding of venom system functionality.
Venom Biotechnology
In order to functionally characterise venom components to understand their biological role and/or their translational potential, it is mandatory to gain access to the single components. However, for most of the venomous biodiversity, it is challenging or even impossible to sample sufficient venom yields to purify the toxins in the needed amounts, effectively preventing their functional assessment. My team has specialised to develop biotechnological methods (heterologous expression in prokaryotes and cell-free systems) to produce selected venom components in high yields. This allows us to harness the entire polypeptide repertoire of our studied taxa for functional and translational studies.
Functional Profiling
The primary question of our lab revolves around the functional and translational significance of venom toxins. To investigate this, we have established a wide range of in vitro and in vivo systems targeting major activities relevant to our model systems. For instance, a wide variety of mammalian (primary, secondary, and cancer) and insect cells plus assays to test their cell-cell communication are available. Further, we employ anti-infective screens against dozens of pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and viruses as well as in vivo assays against several insect species (including major pest and vector insects, such as Drosophila suzukii and Aedes albopictus). Lastly, a large and growing selection of enzyme activity screens (e.g. protease, Phospholipase A2 and D, Thrombin, Factor X, Acetylcholinesterase, Chitinase) are available and regularly employed. This broad array of activity tests allows us to disentangle the functional basis of venom and venom toxins and to understand its value for bioeconomic application.