Bengaluru: According to the sources, the Government of Karnataka’s IT and BT Department is planning to open a Serpentarium (a snake enclosure) soon.
Serpentarium will be built for Rs. 7 Crore and will be used for venom and anti-venom research, house startups that work in the same space and also serve as an educational hub, the Evolutionary Venomics Lab.
It will hold approximately 500 snakes from 23 different species as well as other venomous animals such as scorpions and spiders. Researchers at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), of which Evolutionary Venomics Lab, will develop advanced therapeutic strategies to treat snake bites as current anti-venoms are ineffective and require a major overhaul. Snakes that are housed and employed for research will have its venom extracted.
According to the sources, the lab which partners with the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology is currently testing working with anti-venom manufactures to test the effectiveness of the anti-venom in India.
