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The secrets of spider venom

1,887,865 views | Michel Dugon • TEDxGalway

Spider venom can stop your heart within minutes, cause unimaginable pain -- and potentially save your life, says zoologist Michel Dugon. With a live tarantula on his arm, Dugon explains the medical properties of their potent toxin and how it might be used to produce the next generation of antibiotics.

Spider venom can stop your heart within minutes, cause unimaginable pain -- and potentially save your life, says zoologist Michel Dugon. With a live tarantula on his arm, Dugon explains the medical properties of their potent toxin and how it might be used to produce the next generation of antibiotics.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxGalway, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Learn more about antimicrobial resistance and how the scientific community is working to address it.

Discover Dugon's venom research at the National University of Ireland Galway.

About the speaker

Michel Dugon

Zoologist, venom researcher

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Michel Dugon researches the potential of spider venom as a source of novel therapeutic agents.

Ronald Jenner and Eivind Undheim, | Smithsonian Books, 2017 | Book

Venom: The Secrets of Nature's Deadliest Weapon

Natalie J. Saez, Sebastian Senff, Jonas E. Jensen, Sing Yan Er, Volker Herzig, Lachlan D. Rash and Glenn F. King | Toxins, 2010 | Article

"Spider-Venom Peptides as Therapeutics"

Christie Wilcox | Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017 | Article

Venomous: How Earth's Deadliest Creatures Mastered Biochemistry

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxGalway, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Learn more about antimicrobial resistance and how the scientific community is working to address it.

Discover Dugon's venom research at the National University of Ireland Galway.