Professor José Roberto Giglio and toxinnology in Brazil: 48 years in research

Abstract

This work succinctly describes the professional and scientific life of Dr. José R. Giglio, one of the most outstanding Brazilian researchers in the field of Toxinology. During his long and successful career, he has made major contributions, especially in elucidating the function, structure, and mechanisms of action of animal venom proteins (from snakes, scorpions and spiders) as well as the characterization of antibodies and several inhibitors of venoms and toxins. We present here a brief history of Dr. Giglio's personal and professional life, also reporting some of his numerous published scientific articles on venoms from snakes (Bothrops, Crotalus, and other genera), scorpions (Tityus sp), spiders (Phoneutria sp), their isolated toxins and natural inhibitors. Thus, this work is a tribute to Dr. Giglio in his 73 rd birthday, having devoted 48 years of his life studying animal venoms, an effort that has continued even after his formal retirement from university duties.

In memoriam: Prof. Dr. José Roberto Giglio and his contributions to toxinology

“…It was then when he met his wife, Albertina E. Giglio, whom he married in January of 1962 and took up residence on the University campus, where he resided for 40 years. Dr. Giglio has three children and six grandchildren, a family with solid structure which he built simultaneously with his academic career (Soares et al, 2007).…”

“…In the period from 1969 to 1980, Dr. Giglio published 10 articles related to bovine thrombin and prothrombin, pork and lamb products, with his first publication about animal venom toxins (analytical studies about crotamine) published in 1975 (Giglio, 1975). From 1975 to 1976 he worked at Imperial College in London as a visiting professor, where he learned to do manual sequencing of peptides and proteins (for more details, see Soares et al, 2007).…”

“…On May 21, 1995, the names of 170 renowned Brazilian scientists were published in the newspaper "Folha de São Paulo" (0.85% of the Brazilian scientific community), among them Professor Giglio, whose work had the greatest impact among his peers in the world, according to a study from a database of the ISI (Institute for Scientific Information, USA). He was also recognized by National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), being honored as an Emeritus Researcher (Soares et al, 2007). His main qualities are dignity, character and love for the profession.…”

“…His main qualities are dignity, character and love for the profession. In his own words, in homage to his 73 years of life, he said "I have a feeling of accomplishment, but even conscious of that, I still reach out to those who need valuable knowledge" (Soares et al, 2007).…”