Editor's Foreword

I am delighted to have this collection of articles as the first issue of the new-look Toxicon. The articles provide fascinating insights into a wide range of important topics in toxinology, and they illustrate the multidisciplinary nature of research involving toxins.

Some of the articles in this issue offer an historical perspective on several significant developments in toxin research, including the conotoxins (Cruz and Olivera), the dendrotoxins (Harvey), and the excitotoxins (Stone). The articles also show how study of toxins can provide major insights into basic physiological processes (see the discussion on tetanus and botulinum toxins by Montecucco and colleagues). Other articles highlight some important areas where there are still major challenges to our understanding of how toxins have evolved (Mebs) and how toxins act: these include β-bungarotoxin (Rowan), ciguatoxins (Lewis) and ibogaine (Szumlinski and colleagues). Finally, there is an illustration of how structural information from one class of toxins, containing the cystine knot motif, may aid the design of selective therapeutic agents (Craik and colleagues).