Black Mamba. Photo Credit: CNN.com

Many individuals in this world have lost loved ones due to this disastrous disease known as Cancer, myself included.  They may be hope just yet!  A scientist at the University of Illinois, Dipanjan Pan, and his team may have found a way to stop cancer cell growth according to a paper presented at the American Chemical Society Conference in August 2014.  How do they do it you ask?  Venom!  In ancient times venom from bee stings, snake bites, and frog venom have been used to fight liver, lung, colon, and pancreatic cancers.  Some properties of venom that destroy cancer can have the same effect on healthy cells.  Pan’s lab has been able to take out the bad elements in venom from bees, snakes, and scorpions and keep the important proteins and peptides to be used to stop cancer cell growth.  The venom is then delivered using nanotechnology.  This has proved successful for breast cancer and melanoma cells! Currently they are in the early stages and will start trying the synthesized venom on rats.  If successful we could have human trails in 3-5 years!  So this is definitely something to keep an eye out for!