Australia's Favourite Spiderman…or is he really Venom!

Spider-Man’s powers may be the stuff of comic book legend, but in reality, it’s not a bite that gives spiders their edge — it’s their venom. While Marvel’s Venom turns this into a dark and dangerous symbiote, real-world scientists are harnessing the power of spider venom for something far more extraordinary: lifesaving medical treatments. Certain venom-derived peptides are showing promise in treating epilepsy, chronic pain, and even preventing brain damage from strokes and heart attacks.

Few scientists embody this frontier of venom research like Professor Glenn King from The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (UQ IMB)¹. With decades of research in this field, he is reshaping our understanding of nature’s most potent molecules and transforming them into medical breakthroughs. Just like his Marvel counterpart, Glenn doesn’t shy away from a challenge.

At the Lorne Proteins Conference 50th anniversary², ATA Scientific reconnected with long-time friends, including Prof. Glenn King and his student Alexandra Sundman from IMB UQ. Both tried their luck with the ATA Scientific Lorne Proteins “SPIN TO WIN” Young Scientist competition³ and won. Well, Glenn won, but true to form, he presented the proceeds to Alexandra, with the remark, the certificate was going up with the PM’s Award! His now famous “Happy Dance” sealed the moment, not as Spiderman — but Venom!

Glenn’s association with Lorne dates back 30 years, when he was exploring spider venoms as natural insecticides at the University of Sydney. His reasoning was simple: “Spiders are the best insect killers on the planet — they’ve been perfecting it for 400 million years”.⁴ But Glenn realised spider venoms could do more than kill pests — they could contribute enormously to medicine. His team is harnessing these potent peptides to develop painkillers, epilepsy treatments, and neuroprotective drugs for stroke victims, while also creating eco-friendly insecticides. These are designed to protect crops and combat disease-spreading pests which destroy approximately 15 per cent of the world’s food supply and spread pernicious diseases such as dengue and malaria⁵. Tackling even one of these challenges would be a lifetime achievement — but Glenn is determined to solve them all.

A quick search for Glenn reveals not just his TEDx talk⁶ and university profile but also his global outreach — engaging with groups like Genetic Epilepsy Team Australia and Tory Robinson UK with Epilepsy sparks, even appearing on Spotify. The impact of his research is evident in the heartfelt comments from those it inspires. Glenn has received the 2023 Prime Minister’s Award, was named a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2024 and he is now the Chief Scientific Officer for Infensa Bioscience, developing spider venom therapeutics for Australian-based clinical trials — just a few among his many accolades.

Glenn thrives on collaboration, driving groundbreaking science while embracing new technologies to answer complex questions. Our first encounter was over a Spectropolarimeter for protein secondary structure analysis — now, with the RedShiftBio Aurora TX⁷, we have a powerful tool to elucidate the Higher Order Structures of proteins, detect subtle changes and quantitate this using Microfluidic Modulation Spectroscopy (MMS).

Understanding Higher-Order Structures (HOS) is key to developing next-generation therapeutics, but traditional methods often fall short in sensitivity and resolution. The Aurora TX overcomes these limitations with Microfluidic Modulation Spectroscopy (MMS), providing unmatched accuracy in protein analysis.

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www.atascientific.com.au

_{1. “The University of Queensland,” [Online]. Available: https://imb.uq.edu.au/. [Accessed 27 February 2025].}

_{2. L. P. 2025, “lorneproteins,” 9 February 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.lorneproteins.org/. [Accessed 27 February 2025].}

_{3. ATA Scientific, “ATA Scientific Our Previous Award Winners,” [Online]. Available: https://www.atascientific.com.au/awards-events-training/previous-award-winners/. [Accessed 27 February 2025].}

_{4. Australian Academy of Science, “Professor Glenn King – 2024 Academy Fellow,” [Online]. Available: https://youtu.be/YmeE5gzEOBU. [Accessed 27 February 2025].}

_{5. BUGS and Drugs. [Online]. Available: https://about.uq.edu.au/experts/1593. [Accessed 27 February 2025].}

_{6. T. Talks, “Deadly cures: how venomous animals could save your life | Glenn King | TEDxUQ,” [Online]. Available: https://youtu.be/DybEzz6A6z4?si=HXb2zHranTD6wNmW. [Accessed 27 February 2025].}

_{7. RedShiftBio, “RedShiftBio,” [Online]. Available: https://www.redshiftbio.com/products/aurora-tx. [Accessed 27 February 2025].}