ADDovenom: Novel Snakebite Therapy Platform of Unparalleled Efficacy, Safety and Affordabillity
About ADDovenom
Snakebites can be life-threatening when venom toxins are injected and enter the bloodstream. In areas where immediate access to specialised medical care is limited, bites by venomous snakes cause many thousands of deaths each year.
The EU-funded ADDovenom Project will use an innovative platform enabling generation of new snakebite treatment, based on a new disruptive protein-based nanoscaffold called ADDomer© – a megadalton- sized, thermostable synthetic virus-like particle with 60 high-affinity binding sites to neutralise and eliminate venom toxins from the bloodstream.
ADDovenom combines pioneering proteomics, transcriptomics and bioinformatics focusing on snake toxins provoking the most challenging syndromes like haemorrhage and paralysis. The aim is to develop first-in-class neutralising superbinders for snakebite therapy of unprecedented efficacy against the most prevalent Sub-Saharan snakes.
ADDomer©: Synthetic multiepitope display scaffold for next generation vaccines.
Research
The project comprises several technological challenges (rational design of new antigens as consensus toxins/epitope strings, design of an ADDobody library) and high-risk
research (in vitro selection of new binders from a novel protein scaffold).
Mass
spectrometry
and
bioinformatics
to analyse venoms
In vitro
evolution
and
characterization
of
ADDobody binders
Examination of neutralizing ability of selected ADDobodies
and gigabodies
Scalable bioprocess
for
gigabody production
bullets
Latest News
ADDovenom annual meeting takes place in Portugal
Researchers from University of Bristol, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, University of Liège, Aix-Marseille University and iBET met last week for the fourth and final annual meeting of the ADDovenom project. The meeting took place
ADDovenom researchers give presentations at Venoms & Toxins 2024
Dr Stef Menzies and Iara Cardoso (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) attended the 11th International Toxinology Meeting – Venoms and Toxins in Oxford (20-22 August 2024), sharing results from the
ADDovenom researchers publish preprint on echis venoms
A preprint paper providing a preclinical evaluation of the paraspecific efficacy of three Echis monospecific antivenoms has been published by ‘Preprints with The Lancet’. Co-authored by LSTM’s ADDovenom researchers Rebecca
ADDovenom features in Horizon magazine
Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine, has published an article about the ADDovenom project, and the search for more effective treatments for snakebites. It includes contributions from ADDovenom Project
Konrad Hus awarded Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellowship
Dr Konrad Hus, a Research Associate at the University of Bristol, has been awarded a Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellowship for a project aimed at finding effective solutions for neutralizing the
ADDovenom researchers lead Engineering Biology Mission Award project
ADDovenom researchers will lead a new project on snakebite treatments, one of twenty-two UKRI Engineering Biology Mission Awards announced by the UK government in February 2024. Prof Christiane Schaffitzel (University
New ADDobodies and ADDomers paper by ADDovenom researchers published
Four current and former researchers from the ADDovenom team at the University of Bristol are among the authors of a paper about ADDobodies and ADDomers, published in the journal Structure
Thomas Crasset awarded FRIA doctoral scholarship
Congratulations to Thomas Crasset, who has been awarded a four-year FRIA (Fund for Research Training in Industry and Agriculture) doctoral scholarship by Le Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS). In
ADDovenom project explained in new paper
ADDovenom: Thermostable Protein-Based ADDomer Nanoparticles as New Therapeutics for Snakebite Envenoming, a paper describing the aims of the ADDovenom project and the methodologies being used, has been published by Toxins (28
Experts
Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel
University of Bristol
~Project Coordinator~
Imre Berger
University of Bristol
Loïc Quinton
University of Liège
Renaud Vincentelli
Aix-Marseille University
Nicholas Casewell
Liverpool School of
Tropical Medicine
Robert Harrison
Liverpool School of
Tropical Medicine
Paula Alves
iBET
Antonio Roldão
iBET
