In a collaboration with the research groups of Prof. Dr. W. Nentwig and Dr. L. Kuhn-Nentwig (University of Bern, Zoological Institute, Community Ecology) we employ mass spectrometric techniques (LC-MS, MALDI-TOF-MS, and high-resolution MS/MS) for the detailed characterization of compounds found in the venom of the spider Cupiennius salei.
Up to now, a considerable inventory of venom components could be identified. Among them are various families of peptides of either neurotoxic or antibacterial activity, some of them exhibiting the inhibitor cystine knot structural motif, which we could identify by tandem mass spectrometry.