Collection

Peptides from Animal Venom and Poisons

Submission status
Open
Open for submission from
01 November 2021
Submission deadline
Ongoing

History is full of examples of drug development based on plant and animal biodiversity. A fundamental characteristic of animal venoms is the production of rich toxic secretions where the entirety of its composition is rich in materials, both in quantity and variety, in proteins (with or without enzymatic activity) and peptides. Peptides derived from animal venoms are important tools for carrying out biochemical, physiological and pathological studies, as well as for the development of new biotechnological and pharmaceutical products. The advance of new technologies has allowed researchers to identify and characterize, both functionally and structurally, hundreds of peptides (toxic or not) present in the venoms of snakes, scorpions, spiders, anurans, marine invertebrates, lizards, leeches and other animals, which have a great diversity of pharmacological activities. This paradox is very interesting: toxins present in animal venoms that can kill, are also used to produce medicines that save millions of lives.

We are currently seeking submissions for our new Special Issue on Peptides from Animal Venoms. For this Special Issue, the journal invites substantial contributions in the following thematic areas (including but not limited to):

- Studies on novel peptides isolated from animal venoms

- Application of new therapeutic strategies using peptides in specific diseases

- Synthetic peptides based on animal venoms to develop new drug prototypes

- Antibody reactive peptides for vaccine development

- Peptides used in the study of enzymatic specificity and its mechanism of action, both toxic and therapeutic

- The use of synthetic peptides to generate vaccine strategies

- Synthetic peptides with antigenic specificity for microorganism toxins

- Studies on antimicrobial peptides

- Molecular modeling studies on peptides with pharmacological potential

- Drug discovery inspired on snake venom toxins

- Structure- function relationships of peptides from animal

We welcome submissions of original articles, reviews, mini-reviews, or brief communications on this topic.

Your article must fall within the scope of this special issue and will be subject to peer review in accordance with journal policy. Please feel free to suggest in your cover letter some reviewers who are knowledgeable in the appropriate area.

Editors

  • Saulo Luís da Silva, PhD, University of Porto, Portugal Saulo Luís da Silva, PhD, University of Porto, Portugal , 

    Saulo Luís da Silva, PhD, University of Porto, Portugal

    saulo.silva@fc.up.pt Professor affiliated to the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. Degree in Fundamental Chemistry, University of São Paulo (USP). PhD in Biochemistry, University of Campinas (UNICAMP). Experience in Biochemistry, Protein Chemistry, Structural Biochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry. Supervised or co-supervised more than 38 students, with more than 80 articles published, H = 27 index, and 2000 citations.

  • Andreimar Martins Soares, PhD, Fiocruz Rondônia, Brazil Andreimar Martins Soares, PhD, Fiocruz Rondônia, Brazil  &

    Andreimar Martins Soares, PhD, Fiocruz Rondônia, Brazil

    andreimar.soares@fiocruz.br Specialist (Full Researcher) at Sc&Tech Prod. Innov., in the area of Biotechnology applied to Health of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) in Fiocruz Rondônia. Experience in biochemistry, biotechnology, toxicology and public policies in science and technology. Guided and/or supervised more than 90 students/professionals, with more than 270 articles published, H = 46 index, and more than 7,500 citations.

  • Ana Novo de Oliveira, PhD, University of Porto, Portugal Ana Novo de Oliveira, PhD, University of Porto, Portugal

    Ana Novo de Oliveira, PhD, University of Porto, Portugal

    Ana Novo de Oliveira received her Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the University of Barcelona, Spain, in 2013. She then pursued her postdoctoral studies at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Since 2018, she has been a researcher at the LAQV-REQUIMTE center and at the University of Porto. Her main research focus is the study of biomolecular systems using a variety of theoretical and computational methods. She is particularly interested in developing new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of pathological diseases, the discovery of new drugs, and understanding the structure-dynamics-function relationship in proteins.

Articles (70 in this collection)