IMB Centre for Pain Research

IMB researchers are seeking public input as they develop a mobile app to help chronic pain sufferers and healthcare providers manage and treat pain.

Spiders have helped researchers from Australia and the US discover a new target for irritable bowel syndrome pain.

University of Queensland pain treatment researchers have discovered thousands of new peptide toxins hidden deep within the venom of just one type of Queensland cone snail.

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.

IMB researchers have found seven peptides (mini-proteins) in spider venom that block the molecular pathway responsible for sending pain signals from nerves to the brain.

Cone snails change "weapons", depending on whether they are hunting or defending themselves, researchers from The University of Queensland have discovered.