Baldomero Olivera is a Filipino American chemist known for discovery of many cone snail toxins important for neuroscience. These molecules, called conotoxins led to a breakthrough in the study of ion channels and neuro-muscular synapses. He discovered and first characterized E. coli DNA ligase, a key enzyme of genetic engineering and recombinant DNA technology. Olivera graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1960. He got a PhD from the California Institute of Technology in Biophysical Chemistry, followed by postdoctoral work at Stanford University from 1966-1968. In 1970, he moved to the University of Utah, where he is now a Distinguished Professor of Biology. His laboratory's discovery was featured on the cover of the international scientific journal Science in 1990. He was Harvard 2007 "Scientist of the Year". He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, has been elected into the Institute of Medicine and the American Philosophical Society, and became an Elected Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2009. His impressive research on both DNA biophysics and conotoxins has enabled Dr. 

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