Grant helps Binford study spider venom

$47,000 Murdock grant enables research into brown recluse spider venoms

Posted April 12, 2004

(Portland, Ore.)—Don’t expect to see Peter Parker, better known as Spiderman, in Greta Binford’s biology lab. Binford, assistant professor of biology at Lewis & Clark College, doesn’t examine spider superpowers; her research focuses on spider venom. She has received a grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to study patterns of diversity in spider venom.

Binford and her students study the composition of brown recluse spider venoms and venoms of their relatives. Binford describes spider venoms as chemical cocktails where the individual components vary greatly between spider species. Binford has already collected relatives of the brown recluse from around the world and is working to reconstruct what she calls a species family tree.

“My research goal is to understand the distribution and diversity of an enzyme in venoms of brown spiders and their relatives,” said Binford. “This is the enzyme that causes damage when brown recluse spiders bite people. I’d also like to know why the enzyme is present. The venom enzyme certainly helps these spiders capture insect prey, but brown recluse spiders are shy and only bite people when their lives are at risk. It is unlikely that the enzyme is there to hurt people.” Binford says her research will ultimately help develop diagnostics and treatments for spider bites.

Binford’s $47,000 two-year life sciences grant is for a project titled “A Phylogenetic Framework for Studying the Evolution of the Toxic Enzyme Sphingomyelinase D in Venom of Loxosceles and Sicarius Spiders.”

“My excitement about spiders dates back to an undergraduate project where I studied the feeding biology of social spiders in Peru,” Binford related. “That opportunity opened my eyes to the fantastic diversity of the biological world in general and to the diversity of some 38,000 species of spiders. We have so much more to learn about the diversity of arthropods.”

Binford joined the faculty at Lewis & Clark in 2003. She earned her bachelor of arts degree from Miami University of Ohio, her master of science degree from the University of Utah, and her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. Binford also served as a set design consultant for Sony Pictures’ 2002 release “Spiderman.”

The Murdock Trust, created by the will of the late Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock, provides grants to organizations in five Pacific Northwest states to strengthen the region’s educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways. Binford was one of eight grant recipients in Murdock’s research program for life sciences awards.

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For more information, please contact:
Tania Thompson
Senior Communications Officer
503-768-7960
taniat@lclark.edu