Michael Smith, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1993

Michael Smith, CC, OBC, FRS (26 April 1932 – 4 October 2000) was a British-born Canadian biochemist who won the 1993 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, "for his fundamental contributions to the establishment of oligonucleotide-based, site-directed mutagenesis and its development for protein studies".

Biography

Michael Smith was born in Blackpool, England, and educated at the Arnold School in Blackpool. He went on to receive his PhD in 1956 from the University of Manchester. Afterwards, he did post-doctoral work in Gobind Khorana's Laboratory at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He remained at the University of British Columbia from 1956 until his retirement in 1997.

In 1981 he co-founded the biotechnology company ZymoGenetics. In 1987 he founded and acted as Director of the University of British Columbia Biotechnology Laboratory.

Smith retired in 1997. He had married Helen (divorced 1983); they had two sons and two(?) daughters. Honours

In March 1986 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1993 Smith received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his fundamental contributions to the establishment of oligonucleotide-based site-directed mutagenesis, first published in 1978,[3] and its utility in both genetics and protein studies, as well as genetic engineering. The prize was awarded jointly to Smith and Kary Mullis, who had invented the Polymerase Chain Reaction independently of Smith's work.

In 1994 Michael Smith was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

In 2001 the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research was founded and named after him.

In 2004 the UBC Biotechnology Laboratories were renamed the Michael Smith Laboratories in his honour.

Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre is named in his honour.

Also in 2004 the new biological sciences research centre at The University of Manchester was named the Michael Smith Building.

See also: "Michael Smith - Autobiography". Nobelprize.org.