I am fascinated by the natural world and all it has produced in the beautiful course of what we call evolution. Evolution is an intriguing process that has generated everything around us. Evolution is all about adaptation. Adaptation to ever changing environments or ever changing predators or prey. Animals try to outsmart each other, without actually being aware that they are doing so, it’s a process that usually takes at least thousands of years. This has resulted in some remarkable adaptations in the world of snakes. Take for example the extremely venomous spitting cobras from Africa and Asia that are professional venom spitters. They can spit their venom straight into the eyes of a predator, causing extreme pain and temporary blindness; trust me I’ve been there! It’s not nice! This allows the cobra to crawl away and escape. Or take the mildly venomous flying snakes from south-east Asia that can glide from one treetop to the other, by propelling itself forward by thrusting its body up and away from the tree, sucking in its stomach and flaring out its ribs, making his body twice as wide. They go from tree to tree to look for their favorite meal, the flying gecko! Rattlesnakes have heat sensitive organs that appear as deep pits on either side of their snout between the eyes and nostrils. These pits are super sensitive to infrared radiation, and can detect a thermal difference of a fraction of a degree Celsius, allowing the snakes to hunt at night. All in all, the incredible diversity of snakes and their amazing adaptations is endless!

I am most fascinated by those creatures that use chemicals for defense or feeding, the so-called venomous and poisonous animals. Our research focuses on the evolution of these animals and their venom-delivery systems. Furthermore, we look into these venoms and poisons to see whether they contain compounds that have pharmacological activities that can be used as new medicines. Many have already been discovered , but there may be an even larger number of undiscovered medicines out there.

Last but not least, a major goal in my life is to educate the public about the inherent beauty of the natural world, and all it has produced, this can encourage people to help protect wild places. Also, I'd like to boost 'the snake' since they are still being considered as some of the scariest creatures on earth. I believe that education will turn fear into fascination and finally appreciation. Snakes deserve it.

Watson and Crick, who won a Nobel prize in 1962 for discovering the helical structure of DNA, were already using snake venom in their scientific research in the 1950's. So, snake venom research goes back a long time. The primary goal of snake venom is to immobilize prey, and for that reason it is composed of numerous potent proteins and enzymes that are targeted towards vital organs and vital processes in the physiology of their prey. Venom evolved because prey that doesn't struggle so much requires less energy to be overpowered. Natural selection fixed 'venom genes' in the population, and in time provided some snakes with a nasty and fast-acting, deadly cocktail of potent toxins. Venom toxins are really a major 'experiment of nature', one that has been running for millions of years.