Scorpion venom for the brain
RNE's "Inquietamente" programme has interviewed Meritxell Teixidó, IRB Barcelona research associate, about the study based on scorpion venom. "We saw that there was a peptide in the scorpion venom, chlorotoxin, which has the ability to reach the central nervous system and then act as toxin, "said Teixidó.
Link to RNE
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In its “Preguntas Big Van” section, the newspaper La Vanguardia has interviewed IRB Barcelona researcher Meritxell Teixidó about her project, which seeks to develop “shuttles” that transport drugs into the brain. In this regard, 98% of drugs that start to be developed to treat diseases of the central nervous system are abandoned because they cannot cross the barrier that protects the brain. Inspired on bee and scorpion venom, Teixidó has identified several families of peptides capable of crossing this barrier.
Meritxell Teixidó, a researcher at IRB Barcelona, has been interviewed on the TVE2’s documentary ¡Qué animal! about her work with peptides from scorpion and bee venom in search of drugs that can reach the brain. "These poisons are able to reach the brain, which explains their toxicity. It is precisely this capacity that attracts us to examine their applications," explains Teixidó.
Link to TVE
It is estimated that one in four people will require brain treatment at some point. While there are drug candidates for most diseases of the brain, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) poses an impassable obstacle for most of these compounds and a bottleneck for the delivery of drugs that could cure these patients.
