December 6, 2023
Michael Smith

Michael Smith: Known for site-directed mutagenesis

Michael Smith is a molecular biologist who pioneer site-directed mutagenesis. Which used for medical research and biotechnology.

He became the director of the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit at the University of Cambridge in 1985. He was the Director of Research at SynGen Biochemicals Ltd. A professor-at-large for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and a professor emeritus at Columbia University.

About Michael Smith

Michael Smith was born in 1936. He attended Cambridge University, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1962. In the 60s, he moved to the United States to work with Nobel laureate Christiane Nusslein-Volhard. Who was doing research on Drosophila and Xenopus at the time. Therefore, Smith then returned to Cambridge in 1970 and became a professor of Biochemistry. In 1985, he became Director of the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit at the University of Cambridge.

Life of Smith

His birth

Michael Smith was born on 26th April 1936 in London, United Kingdom. So he was born in the month of April 26. His birthplace was London town and he belongs to the British nationality. He is a son of Jane (mother) and Charles Smith who worked as a baker (father). There are no other details about his early life and childhood but it seems that his childhood was not so good as he had to face illness very soon in his life. He got injure when he was playing some games with his friends. This accident led to the amputation of one of his hands by an orthopedic surgeon. He became a patient with osteomyelitis at age eight which paralyzed him for three months.

His Education

Michael Smith is a brilliant student and he did not have any problems at all when he was doing his academic career. He started his school from the age of 11 and this education continued till his graduation in the year 1958. He took admission to the University of Cambridge where he completed his study in the field of chemistry. After this, he joined research in the Department of Biochemistry. Where he was awarded a Ph.D. degree for his useful research on enzyme kinetics in the year 1962.

Michael Smith became a scientist after completing all these works and research. In 1964, he joined Christiane Nusslein-Volhard at Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tubingen, Germany to work on insect development with her team.

Personal Life of Smith

There are very few details about the personal life of Michael Smith. He was married and has two sons, who are Kevin and Colin. His family life is simple but he seems quite happy in his personal life. He has very few extramarital affairs as he seems focused on his research works only in his entire career.

His Works

He married a lady named Jane Parker who was his University of Cambridge student. Smith had three sons and two daughters. He also has two grandchildren as well. After this, he worked in some other places in different fields of biochemistry where he used the DNA codons to control gene expression and made some significant discoveries in this field. The other important work that he has done is his research on site-directed mutagenesis which was very useful for medical research as we can see from this use today.

Michael Smith

He has received some awards as we know from here. For example, he received the Copley Medal in 2009 for his services to biomedical science. Michael Smith had done many useful works for the science of human beings in general. But he found some time to do some research on the topic of site-directed mutagenesis in the year 1983 under his own guidance. In this process, he made two important techniques which were developed by him only but other scientists could also use these techniques after that time also.

Career

Michael Smith was a great scientist who is always remembered for his work. Most of his works are related to the field of biochemistry, where he made some very important contributions. He was the one who developed site-directed mutagenesis while he was working as a professor at Cambridge University and later on became the director of the Protein Phosphorylation Unit in 1985. In this process, he turn many proteins into mutants. Which later used in medical research and were helpful in curing diseases like AIDS, Hepatitis, etc.

As Researcher

Michael Smith is a very knowledgeable person who knows more about his subject. He always tries to bring some new information from his research and he always delivers the best to the society. He has gone through all the stages of his life very well and he is living with his family in a perfect way as well. His life is quite simple and he does not have any affairs in this life.

Site-specific Mutagenesis

Michael Smith is a scientist who started his career when he was at the University of Cambridge and worked in the field of biochemistry. His research activities for the next twenty-two years made him a renowned scientist and he worked in different fields of biochemistry at different places which were provided from here and have been useful in curing many diseases. One such disease was Hepatitis C, where Michael Smith made some important discoveries and used these to cure this viral infection in human beings.

After this, he started his research work under the guidance of Christiane Nusslein-Volhard who was doing important research on Drosophila and Xenopus at the time.

Administrator

Michael Smith was the director of “The Protein Phosphorylation Unit” at Cambridge University which is a research center. In this unit, he has done a lot of work and developed some useful techniques for research work during his life, and that too under his own guidance as well. Under his leadership and guidance, this unit is growing rapidly at every stage of its development.

Biotechnology Laboratory and PENCE

Michael Smith is a man who has led the Protein Phosphorylation Unit at the University of Cambridge for many years. He is the director of this unit at Cambridge. This center is doing many works for the development of new medicines for curing different diseases which affect human beings in general. As he was trusted with this responsibility, he has done many works for this development and used his full time as well as knowledge to bring some new drugs from his researches which give results to cure AIDS, Hepatitis, etc.

Michael Smith also developed a biotechnology laboratory along with his team while he worked as a scientist.

Death

Micheal Smith died on the 4th of October in 2000 in Canada.

Awards and honors

Michael Smith is a man who has led the University of Cambridge for many years as he was the director of this university. He has done many types of research and research works for the process of human life which were helpful in curing diseases like AIDS, Hepatitis, etc. So he started to get many awards and honors from his own country, Canada and England as well. For example, he got a lot of awards in the year 2000 when he was given a medal by Queen Elizabeth II which is very important in this field as we can see from here.

For his services in research and discovery, Michael Smith received some more awards as well like the Copley Medal which is given to persons who have made contributions to science. He got the Nobel prize in 1993.

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