Biology Seminar: “Spider venom: new technologies …”

“Spider venom: new technologies yield insights into an ancient predatory adaptation”, seminar by Robert Haney, Dept of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
While prized for their silk, and the beautiful web designs which are constructed from it, spiders are equally feared for their venom. Spiders are the largest group of venomous animals, as nearly all of the more than 44,000 species of spiders are venomous. Venom plays a critical role in spider feeding, and contains toxins that incapacitate their prey. The nature and diversity of these toxins, and the evolutionary forces that give rise to variation in toxin activity and specificity, are as yet not well known. “Big data” approaches, using next-generation DNA sequencing technologies, have offered new insights into spider venom, venom gland function and toxin evolution. Lunch available at 12:15pm. Visit www.middlebury.edu/academics/bio for more information.