Satoshi Omura

Did you know a tiny soil microbe helped save millions from blindness? Satoshi Omura is a Japanese scientist born in 1935 who spent his life studying microbes — the tiny living things in soil and water.

Today we will focus on the most important part of his work: finding a natural compound that became a life-saving medicine.

Omura isolated a bacterium called Streptomyces avermitilis that made chemicals called avermectins. With collaborators, these chemicals were turned into ivermectin, a powerful drug that treats parasitic worm infections like river blindness and elephantiasis.

Because ivermectin is safe, inexpensive, and easy to give to many people, health programs used it to treat millions. It protected people’s eyesight, helped children stay healthy and go to school, and made whole communities stronger. For this discovery and its huge impact, Omura shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Omura’s story shows that curiosity — exploring tiny things in nature — can lead to solutions for big problems. A small sample of dirt became a medicine that changed lives around the world. If you like asking questions and exploring, you might follow in his footsteps and help solve the next big problem. Be curious, and who knows what you'll discover!