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What’s Your Poison?

Could compounds derived from tick saliva make effective pharmaceuticals?

By James Strachan 03/22/2017 1 min read

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For many people, the mere sight of a creepy-crawly can evoke a fight-or-flight – or perhaps a shoe or scream – response. Scientists think we’ve evolved an innate fear of spiders because they presented a great danger during the evolution of our species. And the same goes for scorpions, snakes, ants and other potentially venomous creatures. Ironically, however, a number of dangerous biological poisons make excellent medicines. We spoke with Gur Roshwalb, CEO of Akari Therapeutics, who told us how therapeutics are being developed from venomous tick saliva.

About the Author(s)

James Strachan

Over the course of my Biomedical Sciences degree it dawned on me that my goal of becoming a scientist didn’t quite mesh with my lack of affinity for lab work. Thinking on my decision to pursue biology rather than English at age 15 – despite an aptitude for the latter – I realized that science writing was a way to combine what I loved with what I was good at. From there I set out to gather as much freelancing experience as I could, spending 2 years developing scientific content for International Innovation, before completing an MSc in Science Communication. After gaining invaluable experience in supporting the communications efforts of CERN and IN-PART, I joined Texere – where I am focused on producing consistently engaging, cutting-edge and innovative content for our specialist audiences around the world.

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