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]

Greta J. Binford
Nationality	United States
Occupation	Arachnologist
Employer	Lewis & Clark College
Awards	Oregon Professor of the Year (2011)
Website	college.lclark.edu/live/profiles/22-greta-binford

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".