Funnel-web spider venom contains powerful neurotoxins that instantly paralyze prey (usually insects). Millions of years ago, however, this potent poison was just a hormone that helped ancestors of these spiders regulate sugar metabolism, similar to the role of insulin in humans. Surprisingly, this hormone's weaponization--described on June 11 in the journal Structure--occurred in arachnids as well as centipedes, but in different ways.

More effective and less traumatic treatments may become a reality for children with brain and spinal cord tumours thanks to an $80,000 donation from the Brainchild Foundation.

IMB Group Leader Professor David Craik has received the American Peptide Society’s 2015 Vincent du Vigneaud Award.

IMB researcher Professor Mike Waters has today been elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science during his career spanning more than 45 years.

Ovarian cancer cells can lock into survival mode and avoid being destroyed by chemotherapy, an international study reports. Professor Sean Grimmond, from IMB, said ovarian cancer cells had at least four different ways to avoid being destroyed by platinum-based chemotherapy treatments.

University of Queensland scientist Dr Ben Hogan has been awarded $455,000 to work towards new treatments for cardiovascular diseases that affect one in six Australians and cost the national economy about $5.9 billion to treat each year.

UQ researchers are developing a new asthma treatment that targets the underlying cause of asthma, rather than just the symptoms. UQ Institute of Molecular Bioscience’s Associate Professor Mark Smythe said the research team was developing a new drug designed to offer patients a safer and more effective treatment.

IMB's Professor Kirill Alexandrov has been awarded a 2015 National Breast Cancer Foundation Innovator Grant to investigate the potential of a new diagnostic test for advanced breast cancer. ­

Professor Lachlan Coin is part of an international team tackling hunger and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa by improving the supply of sweet potato crops.