Snakebite Education
VISHAM will advance responsible snakebite awareness, public education, and training to reduce fear, counter misinformation, and prevent avoidable harm.
VISHAM Facility
Venom Institute for Snakebite Health and Advanced Medicine.
VISHAM is a dedicated snakebite research and education facility being established in Bengaluru by Prof. Kartik Sunagar and the Evolutionary Venomics Lab at IISc, in collaboration with IBAB, with funding support from the Government of Karnataka through KITS. Envisioned as India’s first national centre of its kind, VISHAM will support venom research, antivenom development, venom quality assessment, outreach, education, wildlife forensics, and advanced snakebite interventions
Mission
A serpentarium for research, education, and public health.
VISHAM integrates animal care, venom access, scientific evaluation, biotechnology, and public engagement to translate field realities into reliable snakebite interventions.
Venom Research
VISHAM will facilitate rigorous research on animal venoms—including those of snakes, spiders, scorpions, and others—with a focus on biogeography, venom variation, and translational relevance.
Antivenom Assessment
A central objective is to support quality assessment of venoms used in lifesaving antivenom production and to evaluate the efficacy of commercially available Indian antivenoms.
Advanced Medicine
VISHAM integrates resource development, biodiscovery, biotechnology, wildlife forensics, and next-generation therapeutic strategies to advance snakebite research and treatment.
Facility Program
What VISHAM makes possible.
Regional venom resources
Maintaining and studying snakes from India’s diverse biogeographic regions will improve access to representative venoms and strengthen both antivenom formulation and efficacy testing.
Bench-to-field translation
EVL’s venomics, toxinology, antibody discovery, and small-molecule therapeutic programmes will be strengthened by a dedicated facility for applied snakebite research.
Outreach and training
VISHAM is designed to support education and training for students, first responders, clinicians, communities, and other stakeholders shaping the future of snakebite mitigation.