**Meet the editor**

Gandhi Radis-Baptista obtained his BS degree in Pharmacy and Biochemistry from University of São Paulo (USP) in 1993; his MSc in Technology of Fermentation in 1996, and his PhD in Life Sciences (Biochemistry) in 2002, both from USP. He was associate researcher in the Butantan Institute, SP (2002-2003). Dr. Radis-Baptista participated in several scientific missions to the National Institute of

Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST/MITI), Japan and to the Biomedical Research Park in Barcelona, Spain. He served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Federal University of Pernambuco (2005-2008). Presently, he is Associate Professor at the Institute of Marine Sciences (UFCE). His main scientific interests are polypeptides from marine and terrestrial organisms, cell receptors, molecular interaction, recombinant DNA technology, and drug discovery from nature.

Contents

**Preface IX**

Menezes

Silvana Giuliatti

**Biological Roles 119**

**Applications 153**

**Section 1 Molecular Toxinology 1**

Ricardo Bastos Cunha

Chapter 1 **Peptidomic Analysis of Animal Venoms 3**

Chapter 2 **Toxins from Venomous Animals: Gene Cloning, Protein Expression and Biotechnological Applications 23**

Chapter 3 **Computer-Based Methods of Inhibitor Prediction 73**

Chapter 4 **New Perspectives in Drug Discovery Using Neuroactive Molecules From the Venom of Arthropods 91**

Chapter 5 **Venom Bradykinin-Related Peptides (BRPs) and Its Multiple**

Chapter 6 **Serine proteases — Cloning, Expression and Potential**

Silva and Geraldo Santana Magalhães

**Molecular Approach 175**

Claudiana Lameu, Márcia Neiva and Mirian A. F. Hayashi

Chapter 7 **Toxins from Lonomia obliqua — Recombinant Production and**

Christian Carrijo-Carvalho and Maria Esther Ricci-Silva

Matheus F. Fernandes-Pedrosa, Juliana Félix-Silva and Yamara A. S.

Márcia Renata Mortari and Alexandra Olimpio Siqueira Cunha

Camila Miyagui Yonamine, Álvaro Rossan de Brandão Prieto da

Ana Marisa Chudzinski-Tavassi, Miryam Paola Alvarez-Flores, Linda
