The Diversity of Venom Delivery

This PhD project will look at the individual flow properties of different venoms, their chemical makeup and how they have evolved with their delivery mechanism. Then by comparing how plants deliver venom via spines without the aid of a gland, to those mammals and reptiles that use fangs and poisonous barbs will help develop new bio-inspired needles which could be used for drug delivery and other medical applications. A large part of the project will be made up of characterising biological structures and materials which have not been systematically examined previously as well as modelling flow of venom by the different delivery mechanisms. For this PhD, the hypothesis is that there is a trade-off between puncture performance and speed of venom injection by venomous plants and animals.