Lecture: 'Venoms to drugs: mapping the antitumoural profile of spider-peptides against melanoma'

About

Melanoma is an aggressive, form of skin cancer that causes a high number of deaths in part due to its high capacity for developing chemoresistance. Recent estimations indicate that at least ~132,000 new skin cancers occur globally each year, this equates to a staggering one in every three cancers diagnosed is a skin cancer. Notwithstanding the human cost of skin cancer, including melanoma, it is a massive economic burden costing over $2000 million p.a. to the health system worldwide. Therefore, novel therapeutic approaches urgently needed to diminish the incidence and the worldwide economic burden of melanoma. Looking for anticancer compounds in nature pose an alternative and attractive experimental approach. Indeed, animals have independently evolved for more than 100 million years mainly for predation and defence. Along with their evolution, the venom of animals has evolved too. Venoms are extraordinarily potent and complex factories, containing more than 1000 different active compounds per droplet. It is estimated more than 20 million venom-based toxins exist in nature and to date, science has examined the function of barely a few hundred. Of interest is that there have been six FDA-approved venom-derived drugs that reached the market mainly to treat disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic pain. Nevertheless, there is not a single venom-derived drug against cancer. Therefore, in this talk we will discuss the anticancer properties of two spider- derived peptides against melanoma and our efforts and future plans to optimize further their safety and potency.

Bio

Dr. Maria Ikonomopoulou is the Head of the Translational Venomics Group and has been recently awarded as a Senior Research “TALENTO” Fellow (Program of excellence in research by the Madrid Government, 2019-2023). She joined IMDEA-Food Institute in September 2017 as a “Marie Curie” AMAROUT Fellow to conduct her independent research on the anticancer properties of animal venoms. Before Maria joined IMDEA-Food, she was in Australia for over 15 years. In brief, Maria obtained her Bachelor of Science on Animal Production at the Technological Educational Institute of Western Macedonia in Greece and did part of her degree in the Biotechnology Department at the Teagasc-Moorepark Research Centre in Ireland. Afterwards, she gained a MSc in the Zoology Department at the University of Tasmania before completing her PhD in the field of Biology at the University of Queensland in Australia. She did a short postdoctoral tenure at the QMIR Berghofer Medical Research Institute working on a collaborative project with AMGEN, USA on the genetic profiling of patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). In 2010, Maria was introduced into the world of “venomics” and drug discovery as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof King’s lab in the IMB Institute at The University of Queensland. In 2013 she found her research niche on the biodiscovery of novel venom-derived peptides. Her expertise attracted great interest and she was recruited by the QIMR Berghofer on the study of venom-peptides with anticancer profile. Maria expanded her venomics research interests while at QIMR Berghofer and she is currently co-supervising a PhD student on the immunosuppressive potential of venom-derived molecules. Maria has co-supervised various Higher Degree students and has mentored many more in Australia.