Tuesday, April 16th, 2019

HASR Bistro

Social/dinner hour from 6 pm: talk starts 7 pm

Everybody welcome: no admission charge

No corkage charge if you buy your wine at the neighboring HASR liquor store

Cheap and easy (cash only) parking at the underground municipal garage at 155 N. Beretania

Exit ramp is directly opposite HASR Bistro

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Dr.  Angel Yanagihara

UH Pacific Biosciences Research Center

         The Science of the Sting

 

Tropical box jellyfish stings kill more people each year than sharks. Current estimates are about 500 deaths per year, with 90% of the victims being rural Philippino fishing-village children under the age of 12.

 

Dr. Yanagihara studies the biochemistry and the pathophysiological effects of the complex venom that is injected into the victim by tentacle stinging cells. Her research has led to the development of a commercially available venom-inhibitor.

Her interest in these animals was triggered by a near-fatal sting by a swarm of boxjellyfish at Kaimana Beach in 1997.

 

Born in Alaska, Dr. Yanagihara obtained her undergraduate degrees at University of Virginia and her PhD at UH-Manoa. She is Director of the Pacific Cnidaria Research Laboratory and an Associate Research Professor with joint appointmentsat the UH Pacific Biosciences Research Center, SOEST, and the Department of Tropical Medicine at JABSOM - the UH Medical School.

     She was recently featured in a five-page article in Science magazine.