Baldomero “Toto” M. Olivera, a distinguished professor of biology at University of Utah in the United States and the Harvard Foundation’s 2007 Scientist of the Year, has been hailed for his work in neurotoxins which is produced by venomous cone snails commonly found in the tropical waters of his native Philippines.
The research conducted by his group became the basis for the commercial drug Prialt (generic name: Ziconotide), which is considered more effective than morphine and does not result in addiction. (But Olivera’s group was not able to patent its work, and it never profited from the sales of the drug.)
Whoa. Scientist of the Year. hehehe...
