Dr Volker Herzig
Senior Research Officer
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
+61 7 334 62018
Researcher biography
I am a Senior Research Officer at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), UQ. My focus of research is the biodiscovery of novel arthropod venom components, in particular venom peptides, for potential applications in basic science, medicine and agriculture. For this purpose, I have compiled the world's largest collection of arachnid venoms (currently comrpising venoms from 520 spiders and 130 scorpions). These venoms are currently utilized in a wide range of collaborative research projects all around the world - please contact me if you have an interesting molecular target or target organism that could benfit from screening a diverse collection of arachnid venoms.
Book Chapters
Fry, B. G., Undheim, E. A. B., Jackson, T. N. W., Georgieva, D., Vetter, I., Calvete, J. J., Schieb, H., Cribb, B. W., Yang, D. C., Daly, N. L., Manchadi, M. L. Roy, Gutierrez, J. M., Roelants, K., Lomonte, B., Nicholson, G. M., Dziemborowicz, S., Lavergne, V., Ragnarsson, L., Rash, L. D., Mobli, M., Hodgson, W. C., Casewell, N. R., Nouwens, A., Wagstaff, S. C., Ali, S. A., Whitehead, D. L., Herzig, V., Monagle, P., Kurniawan, N. D., Reeks, T. and Sunagar, K. (2015). Research methods. In Venomous reptiles and their toxins: evolution, pathophysiology and biodiscovery (pp. 153-214) New York, NY, United States: Oxford University Press.
Smith, Jennifer J., Lau, Carus Ho Yee, Herzig, Volker, Ikonomopoulou, Maria P., Rash, Lachlan D. and King, Glenn F. (2015). Therapeutic applications of spider-venom peptides. In Glenn F. King (Ed.), Venoms to Drugs: Venom as a Source for the Development of Human Therapeutics (pp. 221-244) Cambridge, United Kingdom: Royal Society of Chemistry.. doi:10.1039/9781849737876-00221
Herzig, Volker and King, Glenn F. (2013). The Neurotoxic Mode of Action of Venoms from the Spider Family Theraphosidae. In Wolfgang Nentwig (Ed.), Spider Ecophysiology (pp. 203-215) Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-33989-9_15
Herzig, V. and King, G. F. (2010). Addendum: Spider toxins and their potential for insect control. In Lawrence I. Gilbert and Sarjeet S. Gill (Ed.), Insect pharmacology: Channels, receptors, toxins and enzymes (pp. 119-123) London, U.K.: Academic Press.
Journal Articles
Cardoso, Fernanda Caldas, Dekan, Zoltan, Smith, Jennifer J., Deuis, Jennifer R., Vetter, Irina, Herzig, Volker, Alewood, Paul F., King, Glenn F and Lewis, Richard J. (2017) Modulatory features of the novel spider toxin μ-TRTX-Df1a isolated from the venom of the spider Davus fasciatus. British Journal of Pharmacology, 174 15: 2528-2544. doi:10.1111/bph.13865
Smith, Jennifer J., Herzig, Volker, Ikonomopoulou, Maria P., Dziemborowicz, Slawomir, Bosmans, Frank, Nicholson, Graham M. and King, Glenn F. (2017) Insect-active toxins with promiscuous pharmacology from the African theraphosid spider Monocentropus balfouri. Toxins, 9 5: . doi:10.3390/toxins9050155
Matsubara, F. H., Meissner, G. O., Herzig, V., Justa, H. C., Dias, B. C. L., Trevisan-Silva, D., Gremski, L. H., Gremski, W., Senff-Ribeiro, A., Chaim, O. M., King, G. F. and Veiga, S. S. (2017) Insecticidal activity of a recombinant knottin peptide from Loxosceles intermedia venom and recognition of these peptides as a conserved family in the genus. Insect Molecular Biology, 26 1: 25-34. doi:10.1111/imb.12268
Deuis, Jennifer R., Dekan, Zoltan, Wingerd, Joshua S., Smith, Jennifer J., Munasinghe, Nehan R., Bhola, Rebecca F., Imlach, Wendy L., Herzig, Volker, Armstrong, David A., Rosengren, K. Johan, Bosmans, Frank, Waxman, Stephen G., Dib-Hajj, Sulayman D., Escoubas, Pierre, Minett, Michael S., Christie, Macdonald J., King, Glenn F., Alewood, Paul F., Lewis, Richard J., Wood, John N. and Vetter, Irina (2017) Pharmacological characterisation of the highly Nav1.7 selective spider venom peptide Pn3a. Scientific Reports, 7 . doi:10.1038/srep40883
Ikonomopoulou, Maria P., Smith, Jennifer J., Herzig, Volker, Pineda, Sandy S., Dziemborowicz, Sławomir, Er, Sing-Yan, Durek, Thomas, Gilchrist, John, Alewood, Paul F., Nicholson, Graham M., Bosmans, Frank and King, Glenn F. (2016) Isolation of two insecticidal toxins from venom of the Australian theraphosid spider Coremiocnemis tropix. Toxicon, 123 62-70. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2016.10.013
Herzig, Volker (2016) Create guidelines for characterization of venom peptides. Toxins, 8 9: . doi:10.3390/toxins8090252
Touchard, Axel, Brust, Andreas, Cardoso, Fernanda C., Chin, K.-Y., Herzig, Volker, Jin, Ai-Hua, Dejean, Alain, Alewood, Paul F., King, Glenn F., Orivel, Jérôme and Escoubas, Pierre (2016) Isolation and characterization of a structurally unique β-hairpin venom peptide from the predatory ant Anochetus emarginatus. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1860 11 Part A: 2553-2562. doi:10.1016/j.bbagen.2016.07.027
Herzig, Volker, Ikonomopoulou, Maria, Smith, Jennifer J., Dziemborowicz, Slawomir, Gilchrist, John, Kuhn-Nentwig, Lucia, Rezende, Fernanda Oliveira, Moreira, Luciano Andrade, Nicholson, Graham M., Bosmans, Frank and King, Glenn F. (2016) Molecular basis of the remarkable species selectivity of an insecticidal sodium channel toxin from the African spider Augacephalus ezendami. Scientific Reports, 6 . doi:10.1038/srep29538
Osteen, Jeremiah D., Herzig, Volker, Gilchrist, John, Emrick, Joshua J., Zhang, Chuchu, Wang, Xidao, Castro, Joel, Garcia-Caraballo, Sonia, Grundy, Luke, Rychkov, Grigori Y., Weyer, Andy D., Dekan, Zoltan, Undheim, Eivind A. B., Alewood, Paul, Stucky, Cheryl L., Brierley, Stuart M., Basbaum, Allan I., Bosmans, Frank, King, Glenn F. and Julius, David (2016) Selective spider toxins reveal a role for the Nav1.1 channel in mechanical pain. Nature, 543 7608: 494-499. doi:10.1038/nature17976
Liu, Kai, Wang, Meichi, Herzig, Volker, Liu, Zhen, Hu, Weijun, Zhou, Guihua and Duan, Zhigui (2016) Venom from the spider Araneus ventricosus is lethal to insects but inactive in vertebrates. Toxicon, 115 63-69. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2016.03.010
Ariki, Nathanial K., Muñoz, Lisa E., Armitage, Elizabeth L., Goodstein, Francesca R., George, Kathryn G, Smith, Vanessa L., Vetter, Irina, Herzig, Volker, King, Glenn F. and Loening, Nikolaus M. (2016) Characterization of Three Venom Peptides from the Spitting Spider Scytodes thoracica. PLoS One, 11 5: . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156291
Cardoso, Fernanda C., Deka, Zoltan, Rosengren, K. Johan, Erickson, Andelain, Vetter, Irina, Deuis, Jennifer R., Herzig, Volker, Alewood, Paul F., King, Glenn F. and Lewis, Richard J. (2015) Identification and characterization of ProTx-III [μ-TRTX-Tp1a], a new voltage-gated sodium channel inhibitor from venom of the tarantula Thrixopelma pruriens. Molecular Pharmacology, 88 2: 291-303. doi:10.1124/mol.115.098178
Undheim, Eivind A. B., Grimm, Lena L., Low, Chek -Fong, Morgenstern, David, Herzig, Volker, Zobel-Thropp, Pamela, Pineda, Sandy Steffany, Habib, Rosaline, Dziemborowicz, Slawomir, Fry, Bryan G., Nicholson, Graham M., Binford, Greta J., Mobli, Mehdi and King, Glenn F. (2015) Weaponization of a hormone: convergent recruitment of hyperglycemic hormone into the venom of arthropod predators. Structure, 23 7: 1283-1292. doi:10.1016/j.str.2015.05.003
Klint, Julie K., Smith, Jennifer J., Vetter, Irina, Rupasinghe, Darshani B., Er, Sing Yan, Senff, Sebastian, Herzig, Volker, Mobli, Mehdi, Lewis, Richard J., Bosmans, Frank and King, Glenn F. (2015) Seven novel modulators of the analgesic target NaV1.7 uncovered using a high-throughput venom-based discovery approach. British Journal of Pharmacology, 172 10: 2445-2458. doi:10.1111/bph.13081
Bende, Niraj S., Dziemborowicz, Slawomir, Herzig, Volker, Ramanujam, Venkatraman, Brown, Geoffrey W., Bosmans, Frank, Nicholson, Graham M., King, Glenn F. and Mobli, Mehdi (2015) The insecticidal spider toxin SFI1 is a knottin peptide that blocks the pore of insect voltage-gated sodium channels via a large β-hairpin loop. FEBS Journal, 282 5: 904-920. doi:10.1111/febs.13189
Herzig, Volker and King, Glenn F. (2015) The cystine knot is responsible for the exceptional stability of the insecticidal spider toxin ω-Hexatoxin-Hv1a. Toxins, 7 10: 4366-4380. doi:10.3390/toxins7104366
Bende, Niraj S., Dziemborowicz, Sławomir, Mobli, Mehdi, Herzig, Volker, Gilchrist, John, Wagner, Jordan, Nicholson, Graham M., King, Glenn F and Bosmans, Frank (2014) A distinct sodium channel voltage-sensor locus determines insect selectivity of the spider toxin Dc1a. Nature Communications, 5 . doi:10.1038/ncomms5350
Herzig, Volker, Bende, Niraj S., Alam, Md. Shohidul, Tedford, H. William, Kennedy, Robert M. and King, Glenn F. (2014) Methods for deployment of spider venom peptides as bioinsecticides. Advances in Insect Physiology, 47 389-411. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800197-4.00008-7
Dantas De Araujo, Aline, Herzig, Volker, Windley, Monique J., Dziemborowicz, Slawomir, Mobli, Mehdi, Nicholson, Graham M., Alewood, Paul F. and King, Glenn F. (2013) Do vicinal disulfide bridges mediate functionally important redox transformations in proteins?. Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, 19 16: 1976-1980. doi:10.1089/ars.2013.5365
Herzig, Volker, Kohler, Maxie, Grund, Kai F., Reeve, Shane, Smith, Ian A. and Hodgson, Wayne C. (2013) Analysis of intraspecific variation in venoms of Acanthophis antarcticus death adders from South Australia. Journal of Venom Research, 4 13-20.
Smith, Jennifer J., Herzig, Volker, King, Glenn F. and Alewood, Paul F. (2013) The insecticidal potential of venom peptides. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 70 19: 3665-3693. doi:10.1007/s00018-013-1315-3
Bende, Niraj S., Kang, Eunji, Herzig, Volker, Bosmans, Frank, Nicholson, Graham M., Mobli, Mehdi and King, Glenn F. (2013) The insecticidal neurotoxin Aps III is an atypical knottin peptide that potently blocks insect voltage-gated sodium channels. Biochemical Pharmacology, 85 10: 1542-1554. doi:10.1016/j.bcp.2013.02.030
Undheim, Eivind A. B., Sunagar, Kartik, Herzig, Volker, Kely, Laurence, Low, Dolyce H. W., Jackson, Timothy N. W., Jones, Alun, Kurniawan, Nyoman, King, Glenn F., Ali, Syed A., Antunes, Agostino, Ruder, Tim and Fry, Bryan G. (2013) A proteomics and transcriptomics investigation of the venom from the Barychelid spider Trittame loki (brush-foot trapdoor). Toxins, 5 12: 2488-2503. doi:10.3390/toxins5122488
Klint, Julie K., Senff, Sebastian, Rupasinghe, Darshani B., Er, Sing Yan, Herzig, Volker, Nicholson, Graham M. and King, Glenn F. (2012) Spider-venom peptides that target voltage-gated sodium channels: pharmacological tools and potential therapeutic leads. Toxicon, 60 4: 478-491. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2012.04.337
Windley, Monique J., Herzig, Volker, Dziemborowicz, Sławomir A., Hardy, Margaret C., King, Glenn F. and Nicholson, Graham M. (2012) Spider-venom peptides as bioinsecticides. Toxins, 4 3: 191-227. doi:10.3390/toxins4030191
Herzig, Volker, Hodgson, Wayne C. and Rowan, Edward G. (2011) TTX, cations and spider venom modify avian muscle tone in vitro. Journal of Venom Research, 2 1-5.
Volker, Herzig, Wood, David, Newell, Felicity, Chaumeil, Pierre-Alain, Kaas, Quentin, Binford, Greta J., Nicholson, Graham M., Gorse, Dominique and King, Glenn F. (2011) ArachnoServer 2.0, an updated online resource for spider toxin sequences and structures. Nucleic Acids Research, 39 Supp. 1: D653-D657. doi:10.1093/nar/gkq1058
Seaz, Natalie J., Senff, Sebastian, Jensen, Jonas E., Er, Sing Yan, Herzig, Volker, Rash, Lachlan D. and King, Glenn F. (2010) Spider-venom peptides as therapeutics. Toxins, 2 12: 2851-2871. doi:10.3390/toxins2122851
Herzig, Volker (2010) Ontogenesis, gender, and molting influence the venom yield in the spider Coremiocnemis tropix (Araneae, Theraphosidae). Journal of Venom Research, 1 76-83.
Wood, D. L. A., Miljenovic, T, Cai, S, Raven, R. J., Kaas, Q, Escoubas, P, Herzig, V, Wilson, D and King, G (2009) ArachnoServer: a database of protein toxins from spiders. BMC Genomics, 10 Article #375: 1-8. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-10-375
Herzig, Volker and Hodgson, Wayne C. (2009) Intersexual variations in the pharmacological properties of Coremiocnemis tropix (Araneae, Theraphosidae) spider venom. Toxicon, 53 2: 196-205. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2008.11.002
Herzig, Volker, Khalife, Ali A., Chong, Youmie, Isbister, Geoffrey K., Currie, Bart J., Churchill, Tracey B., Horner, Suzanne, Escoubas, Pierre, Nicholson, Graham M. and Hodgson, Wayne C. (2008) Intersexual variations in Northern (Missulena pruinosa) and Eastern (M. bradleyi) mouse spider venom. Toxicon, 51 7: 1167-1177. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2008.02.001
Herzig, Volker and Hodgson, Wayne C. (2008) Neurotoxic and insecticidal properties of venom from the Australian theraphosid spider Selenotholus foelschei. Neurotoxicology, 29 3: 471-475. doi:10.1016/j.neuro.2008.03.002
Sadler, Rudiger, Herzig, Volker and Schmidt, Werner J (2007) Repeated treatment with the NMDA antagonist MK-801 disrupts reconsolidation of memory for amphetamine-conditioned place preference : short report. Behavioural Pharmacology, 18 7: 699-703. doi:10.1097/FBP.0b013e3282effb81
Herzig, Volker and Schmidt, Werner J. (2007) Amygdala cannulation alters expression of cocaine conditioned place preference and locomotion in rats. Addiction Biology, 12 3-4: 478-481. doi:10.1111/j.1369-1600.2007.00060.x
Herzig, Volker, Capuani, Eleonora M. I., Kovar, Karl-Artur and Schmidt, Werner J. (2005) Effects of MPEP on expression of food-, MDMA- or amphetamine-conditioned place preference in rats. Addiction Biology, 10 3: 243-249. doi:10.1080/13556210500223272
Herzig, V. and Schmidt, W. J. (2005) Repeated-testing of place preference expression for evaluation of anti-craving-drug effects. Amino Acids, 28 3: 309-317. doi:10.1007/s00726-005-0185-x
Volker Herzig and Werner J. Schmidt (2005) Anti-craving drugs acamprosate and naloxone do not reduce expression of morphine conditioned place preference in isolated and group-housed rats. Neuroscience Letters, 374 2: 119-123. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2004.10.036
Herzig, Volker and Schmidt, Werner J. (2004) Effects of MPEP on locomotion, sensitization and conditioned reward induced by cocaine or morphine. Neuropharmacology, 47 7: 973-984. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2004.07.037
Herzig, Volker, Ward, Richard John and dos Santos, Wagner Ferreira (2004) Ontogenetic changes in Phoneutria nigriventer (Araneae, Ctenidae) spider venom. Toxicon, 44 6: 635-640. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2004.07.020
Herzig,.Volker, Ward, Richard John and Ferreira dos Santos, Wagner (2002) Intersexual variations in the venom of the Brazilian ‘armed’ spider Phoneutria nigriventer (Keyserling, 1891). Toxicon, 40 10: 1399-1406. doi:10.1016/S0041-0101(02)00136-8
Herzig, V, Ward, RJ and dos Santos, WF (2002) Intersexual variations in the venom of the Brazilian 'armed' spider Phoneutria nigriventer (Keyserling, 1891). Toxicon, 40 10: 1399-1406. doi:10.1016/S0041-0101(02)00136-8
Conference Papers
Ryan, R., Ikonomopoulou, M., Haigh, O., Lutzky, V, Martinez, Jimenez R., Ratnatunga, C., Wong, Y., Rojas, Leal, I, Lopez, A., Fry, B., Herzig, V, King, G. and Miles, J. (2016). Exploring the immunosuppressive potential of venom-derived molecules. In: International Congress of Immunology (ICI), Melbourne, VIC, Australia, (395-396). 21-26 August 2016. doi:10.1002/eji.201670200
Jimenez-Martinez, R., Ikonomopoulou, M., Haigh, O., Lutzky, V, Leal-Rojas, I, Ryan, R., Ratnatunga, C., Wong, Y., Lopez, A., Fry, B., Herzig, V, King, G. and Miles, J. J. (2016). Investigating venom-derived molecules that augment human immune function. In: International Congress of Immunology (ICI), Melbourne, VIC, Australia, (396-397). 21-26 August 2016. doi:10.1002/eji.201670200
Fernanda Caldas Cardoso, Volker Herzig, King, Glenn F and Lewis, Richard J. (2015). Harnessing animal venoms in the discovery of potent Nav inhibitors through fluorescent and automated patch clamp assays. In: 18th World Congress of the International Society on Toxinology. 18th World Congress of the International Society on Toxinology, Oxford UK, (). 25-30 September 2015.
Cardoso, F. C., Dekan, Z., Anangi, R., Rosengren, K. J., Erickson, A., Vetter, I., Herzig, V., Alewood, P., King, G. F. and Lewis, R. J. (2014). Discovery of voltage-gated sodium channel inhibitors from tarantula venoms. In: Venom to Drugs Conference 2014, Kingscliffe, NSW, Australia, (). 19-23 October 2014.
Cardoso, F. C., Herzig, V., Hauke, T., Lewis, R. J. and King, G. F. (2013). Discovery of novel spider peptides blocking hNav1.7. In: 3rd Annual Conference of the Toxinological Society of India and 1st International Conference on “Biology of Natural Toxins”, Goa, India, (). 19-21 December, 2013.
Cardoso, F. C., Herzig, V., Hauke, T., King, G. F. and Lewis, R. J. (2013). Harnessing high-throughput screening strategies for identification of selective hNav1.7 blockers for the treatment of chronic pain. In: CASB Division Symposium 2013. CASB Division Symposium 2013, Brisbane Australia, (). 7 November, 2013.
Sousa, Silmara R., Ragnarsson, Lotten, Vetter, Irina, Herzig, Volker, King, Glenn F. and Lewis, Richard J. (2012). Development of high throughput calcium channel assays to accelerate the discovery of novel toxins targeting human cav2.2 channels. In: Abstracts: Toxins 2012. 7th World Congress of the International Society on Toxinology & Venom Week 2012, 4th International Scientific Symposium on All Things Venomous, Honolulu, Hawaii, (111-111). 8 - 13 July 2012. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2012.04.033
Dantas de Araujo, A. D., Herzig, V., Mobli, M., Windley, M. J., Nicholson, G. M., Alewood, P. F. and King, G. F. (2010). Understanding the role of the unusual constrained eight-membered disulfide ring of spider toxins. In: 31st European Peptide Symposium, Copenhagen, Denmark, (60-61). 5-9 September 2010. doi:10.1002/psc.1303
Sadler, R., Herzig, V. and Schmidt, W. (2007). Reconsolidation-blockade of an amphetamine-induced conditioned place-preference by the noncompetitive NMDA-antagonist MK-801. In: 12th Biennial Meeting of the European Pharmacology Society, Tubingen, Germany, (S84-S84). 31 August - 3 September 2007.
Herzig, V and Schmidt, WJ (2003). Effects of the mGluR5 antagonist MPEP on locomotion, sensitization and secondary reward induced by cocaine or morphine. In: Behavioural Pharmacology. 10th Biennial Meeting of the European-Behavioural-Pharmacology-Society, Antwerp Belgium, (S56-S56). Sep 06-09, 2003.