Viper Resource Grant at Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Grant Number: P40OD010960
Research Emphasis/Objectives
The National Natural Toxins Research Center (NNTRC), a component of Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK), is a unique animal and biological material resource center organized to support basic and translational research on venomous snakes and their venoms. Since the initiation of this P40 grant in 2003, the NNTRC has served as the only federally funded viper resource center in the United States, playing a critical role as a provider of high-quality single-source venoms and snake-related research materials to national and international biomedical and biological research programs. The goal of the NNTRC is to provide native venom and purified venom components, recombinant venom proteins, and specialized venom research services of the highest quality to support snake venom–related research in the United States and abroad.
To achieve its goal, the NNTRC will address the following three Specific Aims:
- Aim #1: To operate the NNTRC as a resource center that provides high-quality venom and products that support biological and biomedical research for national and international research programs (70%).
- Aim #2: To develop and expand the collection of snakes, specialized services, and outreach programs to support growth of venom-related research in the United States (20%).
- Aim #3: To conduct a state-of-the-art applied research program to support the development of new venom-related research services.
- Sub-Aim #1: To apply new methods and approaches to the production of recombinant toxins for rare and low-abundance components of crotalid venom.
- Sub-Aim #2: To develop novel cell-based assays that can be used for the conventional and high-throughput testing of anti-venoms and toxin inhibitory molecules.
Services Provided
| Products Provided | Services Provided |
| Venom (single or pooled source) | Venom lethality-LD50 |
| Venom fractions | Antivenom efficacy-ED50 |
| Snake sheds | Hemorrhagic assays |
| Snake blood | In vitro angiogenic assays |
| Snake glands | In vivo angiogenic assays |
| Other snake organs | In vivo antitumor assays |
| cDNA libraries | Cytotoxicity assays |
| Recombinant venom proteins/peptides | Cell proliferations assays |
| Snake venom extracellular vesicles and exosomes | Platelet function assays |
| Synthetic peptides | Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assay (ELISAs) |
| Western blots | |
| 1-D and 2-D SDS electrophoresis | |
| Mass spectrometry | |
| cDNA library construction | |
| Cloning of venom molecules | |
| Venom molecule purification | |
| In vitro cell permeability assay | |
| In vivo cell permeability assay (Miles assay) | |
| Indirect hemolytic assay | |
| In vitro blood coagulation assays | |
| In vitro antibacterial activity (disc diffusion and microdilution methods) | |
| Snake envenomation biomarker discovery | |
| Snake venom extracellular vesicles and exosomes cytotoxicity analysis | |
| Toxicity score analysis |
Contact Information
National Natural Toxins Research Center
975 W. Avenue B, MSC 224
A.L. Kleberg Hall, Room 100
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363
tamuk.edu/artsci/departments/nntrc/index.html
Co-Principal Investigator
Elda E. Sánchez, Ph.D.
Phone: 361-593-3796
elda.sanchez@tamuk.edu
Other/Resource Contacts
Peter J.A. Davies, M.D., Ph.D.
Phone: 713-677-7473
pdavies@tamu.edu
Other/Resource Contacts
Co-Investigator: Jacob A. Galan, Ph.D.
Phone: 361-593-3794
jacob.galan@tamuk.edu