Breakthroughs and failures on the road to a universal snake bite antivenom

Snake bites kill tens of thousands of people around the world each year. But we still use techniques invented in the late 19th century to make antivenom, and each bite needs to be treated with antivenom for that specific type of snake.

We hear from two scientists whose recent breakthroughs – and failures – could save many more lives and help achieve the holy grail: a universal antivenom. Featuring Stuart Ainsworth, senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool in the UK and Christoffer Vinther Sørensen, postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Antibody Technologies at the Technical University of Denmark.

This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood, with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive editor. Full credits available here. A transcript will be available shortly. Subscribe to a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

Further reading:

• We’re a step closer to having a universal antivenom for snake bites – new study
• Snakebites: we thought we’d created a winning new antivenom but then it flopped. Why that turned out to be a good thing
• Snakebites can destroy skin, muscle, and even bone – exciting progress on drugs to treat them