The University of Utah has named Distinguished Professor Baldomero “Toto” Olivera the inaugural recipient of the K. Gordon Lark Endowed Chair of Biological Sciences, recognizing a career defined by scientific curiosity, unconventional thinking and a commitment to mentorship.
The endowed chair honors Olivera’s decades-long impact on neuroscience and pharmacology through his pioneering work on venomous cone snails, while also celebrating the legacy of K. Gordon Lark (1930-2020), the visionary biologist widely regarded as the founder of the U’s Department of Biology. Lark played a central role in shaping the department’s research culture and was instrumental in recruiting Olivera to the university early in his career.
In an essay written for Annual Reviews of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Olivera reflected on Lark’s influence on both the department, now the School of Biological Sciences, and his own scientific approach. “The [U’s] nascent research community, in every field from molecular biology to community ecology, was built by Lark in creative, often wildly unconventional small steps,” Olivera wrote. “It is his guidance that makes me feel unconstrained in exploring unusual solutions to seemingly intractable problems.” That sense of intellectual freedom and a willingness to follow unexpected paths has become a defining feature of Olivera’s career.
The full circle of Lark’s impact on Olivera was on display last fall when he delivered the annual K. Gordon Lark Lecture at the School’s annual Science Retreat in October 2025.
An Idiosyncratic Path
Olivera’s journey into pharmacology was unconventional by his own account. In a first-person retrospective on his career, he opens candidly: “I have no formal academic training in pharmacology. It’s no surprise, therefore, that my path to a research career in this field has been idiosyncratic.”
Rather than following a linear trajectory, Olivera describes a career shaped by curiosity, cultural perspective, and a willingness to enter new scientific fields as a novice. While many people might feel confined by a lack of formal training, he has embraced it. “An important factor in my research career is that I have launched projects not as an expert but as a novice,” he wrote. “I am not uncomfortable starting out as an outsider in a new field of science.” Additionally, he attributes this unique perspective on research to his multicultural education, growing up in the Philippines and moving to the U.S. to study biophysical chemistry in graduate school.
A novice mindset proved pivotal when Olivera began studying the venoms of cone snails, marine predators whose toxins would later transform neuroscience research and pain medicine. Approaching venom research with a biochemical lens, and unaware of established norms in toxicology, Olivera and his collaborators focused on purifying individual venom components rather than studying whole venom mixtures. “The naiveté of ‘purification first, characterization later’ was the key to the much more rapid progress we made on cone snail venoms,” Olivera wrote, noting that his lack of formal expertise ultimately freed him from traditional toxinology practices.
Developed in part by undergraduates
That openness to discovery led to the identification of conotoxins, highly specific peptides capable of targeting precise neural pathways. Over time, Olivera and his team of undergraduate researchers revealed that cone snail venoms contain hundreds of distinct bioactive molecules, many with extraordinary selectivity for ion channels and receptors in the nervous system.
One of those molecules, ω-conotoxin MVIIA, became the basis for Prialt (ziconotide), an FDA-approved treatment for severe chronic pain, a breakthrough Olivera notes was driven in large part by his undergraduate researchers. “Prialt is probably the only commercial drug for pain discovered and characterized by undergraduate students,” he writes.
‘Expeditions into discovery’
This long-term, curiosity-driven research, initially viewed as obscure, was recognized nationally in 2022 with a Golden Goose Award, which honors federally funded research with unexpected and profound societal benefit.
The values embodied by the K. Gordon Lark Endowed Chair—mentorship, intellectual risk-taking, and openness to unconventional ideas—run through Olivera’s work as a scientist and educator. Like Lark, Olivera has spent decades mentoring students across disciplines and career stages, fostering an environment where discovery often emerges from open-ended exploration. Reflecting on his broader philosophy of science, Olivera writes: “In essence, my research trajectory has been determined by expeditions into discovery.”
“I had the pleasure to work with Gordon Lark for many years,” says Fred Adler, the current Director of the School of Biological Sciences, “and his joy in taking chances and finding new directions lives on in the laboratory of Toto Olivera. With work spanning from molecular biology and neuroscience to ecology, and pharmacology, the Olivera lab is a microcosm of how we work together to find novel ways to attack some of the most complex questions in biology and medicine.”
As the inaugural holder of the K. Gordon Lark Endowed Chair of Biological Sciences, Olivera represents a living link between the department’s origins and its future. Lark’s vision helped build the foundation of biological research at the U, and Olivera’s work continues to expand its reach from basic discovery to life-changing therapies. The chair formalizes a legacy shared by both scientists: a belief that the most meaningful advances often begin with curiosity, courage, and the freedom to explore the unexpected.