Science has slithered into the realm of the fantastically bizarre: venomous organoids!

Welcome to the world of venom gland organoids, where researchers are growing tiny snake venom factories in petri dishes. It’s like Jurassic Park, but instead of dinosaurs, we’re recreating nature’s most potent cocktail shakers!

Picture this: scientists in white coats huddled around a microscope, cooing over what looks like a bunch of angry grapes. “Aww, look at the little venom sacs!” they exclaim, as if they’re admiring a litter of kittens instead of miniature death-juice dispensers. But wait, there’s more!

These mad scientists discovered that they could grow these venomous void-fillers using almost the same recipe as human organoids. The only difference? They had to turn down the thermostat a few notches. Apparently, snake venom prefers to be cultivated at a cool 32°C, probably to match the cold-blooded nature of its original owners. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder, they found out that different cells in these organoids produce different toxins. It’s like a toxic talent show in there! Some cells are belting out neurotoxins while others are crooning about hemotoxins. It’s a regular venom variety hour!

But don’t worry, these scientists aren’t just growing death drops for fun. Oh no, they have grand plans! They’re talking about using these mini venom factories for everything from antivenom production to new drug development. Because nothing says “cure” like a dash of snake juice, right? So, the next time you’re sipping on a lab-grown, venom-based energy drink (coming soon to a store near you, probably), remember to raise a glass to the brave souls who decided that what the world really needed was more snake venom. Cheers to science, where “because we can” is always a good enough reason!

Fang-tastic References: The Organoid Venom Vault

Covering the original research on venom gland organoids, protocols for their derivation, and subsequent studies exploring their applications and insights into venom production at the cellular level and more!

1. Post, Y., Puschhof, J., Beumer, J., et al. (2020). Snake Venom Gland Organoids. Cell, 180(2), 233-247.e21.
2. Puschhof, J., & Clevers, H. (2021). Derivation of snake venom gland organoids for in vitro venom production. Nature Protocols, 16(3), 1494-1510.
3. Clevers, H. (2020). Snake Venom Gland Organoids. Hubrecht Institute.
4. Corrêa-Netto, C., Junqueira-de-Azevedo, I. L. M., Silva, D. A., et al. (2022). Snake Venom and 3D Microenvironment Cell Culture. Toxins, 2(2), 9.
5. Schield, D. R., Perry, B. W., Adams, R. H., et al. (2019). The kingsnake genome reveals multiple mechanisms for extreme venom phenotype assembly. Genome Research, 29(11), 1800-1812.
6. Perry, B. W., Schield, D. R., Mackessy, S. P., & Castoe, T. A. (2023). Single-Cell Heterogeneity in Snake Venom Expression Is Hardwired and Coordinated by Conserved Gene Regulatory Networks. Genome Biology and Evolution, 15(6), evad109.