RU teacher creates country’s first database on snakes

A teacher of Rajshahi University (RU) has created the country’s first and only 'snake database'. Apart from snake venom and toxicity, information on domestic and international names of snakes and their food habits, types, nature, and descriptions can be found here. Prof Abu Reza teaches at the genetic engineering department at RU. He said the database described in detail the various species of poisonous snakes found in Bangladesh. “We have focused on the types of toxins and poisons in poisonous snakes. All scattered information about snakes gathered from different places has been arranged according to their nature and type.” Reza started working on the database in 2013-14.  The database can found at www.snakebd.com.

The website lists about 89 species of snakes including the Kalnagini, Gokhra, Black-Yellow Band Sticks, Sankhini, Dhaman and Pathar snakes. The website even mentions the types of venom of these snakes. Reza has been researching on snake venom for the past nine years.

About the purpose of creating such a database, Reza said: “We usually go to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to look for various aspects of snake protein. It is difficult to find any specific venom from it." “It's very easy to find the cardio toxin in our database. Here we have demonstrated a structure by analysing proteins in the venom of about 300 snakes,” he added.

 He also said that researchers can easy gather biological information from the database.

“I believe this database will be very useful for researchers working on snakes. Not only Bangladesh, it is the first such database in the world,” he claimed.

RU teacher creates countrys first database on snakes

A teacher of Rajshahi University (RU) has created the countrys first and only snake database. Apart from snake venom and toxicity, information on domestic and international names of snakes and their food habits, types, nature, and descriptions can be found here. Prof Abu Reza teaches at the genetic engineering department at RU. He said the database described in detail the various species of poisonous snakes found in Bangladesh. We have focused on the types of toxins and poisons in poisonous snakes. All scattered information about snakes gathered from different places has been arranged according to their nature and type. Reza started working on the database in 2013-14. The database can found at www.snakebd.com. The website lists about 89 species of snakes including the Kalnagini, Gokhra, Black-Yellow Band Sticks, Sankhini, Dhaman and Pathar snakes. The website even mentions the types of venom of these snakes. Reza has been researching on snake venom for the past nine years. About the purpose of creating such a database, Reza said: We usually go to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to look for various aspects of snake protein. It is difficult to find any specific venom from it. Its very easy to find the cardio toxin in our database. Here we have demonstrated a structure by analysing proteins in the venom of about 300 snakes, he added. He also said that researchers can easy gather biological information from the database. I believe this database will be very useful for researchers working on snakes. Not only Bangladesh, it is the first such database in the world, he claimed.