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]