Greta Binford

Greta J. Binford
NationalityUnited States
OccupationArachnologist
EmployerLewis & Clark College
AwardsOregon Professor of the Year (2011)
Websitecollege.lclark.edu/live/profiles/22-greta-binford

Greta J. Binford is a United States arachnologist, specialising in studies of spider venom.[1] She is a Professor of Biology at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.[2]

As a child, Binford was raised on a small corn-and-soybean farm in west-central Indiana.[3] From 1983 to 1985 she studied psychology at Purdue University, after an abortive attempt at a degree in veterinary medicine.[3] While qualifying to be a science teacher at Miami University, she was offered the chance to study spiders in Peru's Amazon basin for the summer,[3] and obtained a B.A. in Zoology at Miami in 1990. Afterwards, she undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Utah[3] from 1991–1993, obtaining an M.S. in Biology in 1993. She obtained a PhD from the University of Arizona in 2000.

She joined Lewis & Clark as an Assistant Professor in 2003, becoming Associate Professor in June 2009. She was named Oregon Professor of the Year for 2011,[1] and is the subject of the 2011 children's book Silk and Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider, by Kathryn Lasky and the photographer Christopher G. Knight.[1][4] She sits on the editorial board of the open-access scientific journal Toxins.[5]

The species of spider Austrarchaea binfordae, found in New South Wales, Australia, is named in her honour, "for her pioneering research on spider venoms and for contributing to a highly successful basal clades tour".[1][6]

Greta also appeared in season 4, episode 6, of Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman, "Finding Eight-Legged Tights Isn't Easy".

References

  1. ^ a b c d Graves, Bill (17 November 2011). "Lewis & Clark's spider researcher Greta Binford named 2011 Oregon Professor of the Year". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  2. ^ Binford, Greta. "Greta Binford". Lewis & Clark College. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d Bilger, Burkhard (5 March 2007). "Spider Woman Hunting venomous species in the basements of Los Angeles". The New Yorker. pp. 66–73. PMID 17385251. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  4. ^ Lasky, Kathryn; Knight, Christopher G. (2011). Silk and Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick. ISBN 978-0-7636-4222-8.
  5. ^ "Toxins — Editors". Toxins. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  6. ^ Rix, M.G.; Harvey, M.S. (2011). "Australian assassins, part I: a review of the assassin spiders (Araneae: Archaeidae) of mid-eastern Australia". ZooKeys (123): 1–100. Bibcode:2011ZooK..123....1R. doi:10.3897/zookeys.123.1448. PMC 3175121. PMID 21998529.

Media appearances