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Bianca op den Brouw

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Research Associate, The University of Queensland

My passion lies in research that contributes to our understanding of the evolutionary interactions between organism and ecology - in particular, the evolution of the venom and venom systems of reptiles. My research incorporates evolutionary biology and ecology with clinical toxinology. I aim to illuminate the evolutionary processes shaping viper venom and provide insight into the implications this can have for snakebite therapeutics.

I completed my PhD in the Venom Evolution Lab at the University of Queensland where I investigated the functional and molecular evolution of viper (Viperinae) venoms. Following this, I worked at the Australian Venom Research Unit at Melbourne University where my focus was brown snake venoms.

I am presently working a short-term contract as a field research officer for Zoos Victoria in a post-bushfire koala ecology project. The project is taking place in my hometown of Mallacoota, which was severely affected in the 2019/2020 summer bushfires. This personal connection to the nature of the project explains the somewhat unusual departure from my typical line of work.

Experience

  • 2021–present
    Research officer, Zoos Victoria
  • 2020–2020
    Postdoctoral researcher, The University of Melbourne

Education

  • 2020 
    University of Queensland, Doctor of Philosophy
  • 2013 
    Liverpool John Moores University, BSc. Hons. Zoology

Publications

  • 2017
    Rattling the border wall: Pathophysiological implications of functional and proteomic venom variation between Mexican and US subspecies of the desert rattlesnake Crotalus scutulatus, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part C
  • 2017
    Differential procoagulant effects of saw-scaled viper (Serpentes: Viperidae: Echis) snake venoms on human plasma and the narrow taxonomic ranges of antivenom efficacies, Toxicology Letters
  • 2017
    Enter the Dragon: The Dynamic and Multifunctional Evolution of Anguimorpha Lizard Venoms, Toxins
  • 2016
    Rapid Radiations and the Race to Redundancy: An Investigation of the Evolution of Australian Elapid Snake Venoms., Toxins