Baldomero Olivera, Ph.D. will provide this year's LSI Diversity Summit Lecture, as part of the University of Michigan's Annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit.

Abstract:
There are 1000 different species of venomous cone snails and over 20,000 venomous snails in the marine environment (Superfamily Conoidea). Their venoms are complex, each with 100 to 200 different bioactive components, and each species has a different set of venom components. This talk will focus on the ca. 150 species that prey on fish. The fish-hunting cone snails have evolved different strategies to capture their fish prey; and by understanding how the different lineages evolved and the behavior of the snails, and how their venoms affect the behavior of fish (and mice), insight has been gained into how different molecular components of the venom work. As a consequence of this research, there is one approved drug from these venoms, two that have reached clinical trials, and several in pre-clinical development.

About the Speaker:
Olivera is a Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Utah, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and an adjunct professor at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the U.S. National Academy of Science and the Institute of Medicine. His awards include the Outstanding Alumni Award of Caltech, the Redi Award from the International Society for Toxinology and the Harvard Foundation Scientist of the Year 2007 Award.