# “Conus venom peptides and their molecular targets: Using pharmaconomics and neuroethology as a framework for discovery”

> **NIH NIH R01** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2022 · $573,218

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 The hundreds of different bioactive components in the venoms of cone snails have demonstrated
extraordinary biomedical potential in the past, including development as an FDA-approved drug. However,
their discovery and characterization is generally limited by the small amounts of venom that are accessible.
Our laboratory has developed a calcium-imaging platform combined with selective pharmacology
(“Constellation Pharmacology”), that when combined with recent technical advances in transcriptomic and
proteomic analysis and electrophysiology (an integrated platform that we call Pharmaconomics) completely
changes the landscape with respect to discovery and characterization of novel venom components. Using
pharmaconomics, one goal is to tightly couple the discovery and biochemical characterization of individual
venom components with the elucidation of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie their biological
activity. The pharmaconomics approach also uncovers how individual components affect physiology at the
system’s and whole animal level. We will use the insights gained from the characterization of bioactive venom
components to rationalize the species-specific behavior and neuroethology of the cone snail and it’s fish prey.
These new tools should allow an unprecedented rate of discovery of novel bioactive cone snail venom
components tightly linked to the elucidation of their molecular targets.
 Although the focus of this project is on venom peptides and their molecular targets, the
pharmaconomics approach can be used for elucidating the physiologically-relevant molecular target of any
natural product. Linking the vast chemical diversity of natural products to their cognate macromolecular
receptors should greatly expand the use of natural products as pharmacological tools in basic research, as well
as their therapeutic and other biomedical applications.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10346236
- **Project number:** 1R01GM144719-01
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** BALDOMERO M OLIVERA
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $573,218
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-03-15 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10346236

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10346236, “Conus venom peptides and their molecular targets: Using pharmaconomics and neuroethology as a framework for discovery” (1R01GM144719-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10346236. Licensed CC0.

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