CONCO

The animal kingdom includes more than 100'000 venomous species spread through major phyla. Each individual venom is a unique cocktail of often more than 100 different peptides and proteins, making the venom a source of millions of peptides and proteins naturally tailored to act on a myriad of exogenous targets, such as ion channels, receptors and enzymes within cells and on the plasma membrane. CONCO focuses on the study of a marine venomous cone snail Conus Consors and aims both at developing an existing drug lead compound (XEP-018), and at identifying and characterising new venom-derived drugs from this cone snail species.

Transcriptomic and proteomic work is expected to generate a complete map of peptides and proteins produced by the venomous gland. The whole genome sequencing will generate knowledge about organisation of the genes, mapping specific toxin genes, providing access to new probes and eventually new analogues.

Genomic data and biodiversity studies will also bring information about specificity of variations related to intra- and inter-species, environmental constrains, food, seasonal variations or evolution of the venom with the age of the snail. Furthermore important data will be created and will be centralised in a deeply annotated database available on a dedicated web-based platform.

CONCO teams up with the best suited partners which include cutting-edge technologies in the various fields of interest. CONCO will also widely communicate with the public through a documentary film and books in partnership with the French " Institut de Recherche pour le Développement" (IRD) for example. Workshops and local or international conferences will also be organised.


- Picture by T. Parel -