Australian researchers find antidote for world's most venomous creature

Researchers at the University of Sydney have found an antidote for the sting of the jellyfish – which carries enough venom to kill more than 60 people.

A single sting from the creature will cause excruciating pain and skin necrosis and, if the dose of venom is large enough, cardiac arrest and death within just minutes.

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Using genome editing, pain researchers at the university’s Charles Perkins Centre found a “molecular antidote” that blocks the symptoms of a box jellyfish sting if applied to skin within 15 minutes.

The researchers took millions of human cells and knocked out a different human gene in each one, before adding the jellyfish venom and looking for cells that survived the process.

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