Dr. Michael Smith
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Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dr. Michael Smith will be remembered as a great
humanitarian who was passionate about research and science. Michael Smith was
born into a working-class family in Blackpool, England in 1932. He received
his PhD in 1956 from the University of Manchester and then undertook his post-doctoral
studies in Gobind Khorana's Laboratory in Vancouver, Canada. Khorana himself
received a Nobel Prize in 1968 for work on the genetic code. Smith later moved
with Khorana's group to Wisconsin in the USA in 1960, but in 1961 he moved back
to Vancouver. For years Smith worked at the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
Laboratory in Vancouver, and in 1966 he was appointed a UBC professor of Biochemistry
in the Faculty of Medicine. Michael Smith
enjoyed a long and productive research career at the University of British Columbia.
In addition to being a Professor of Biochemistry and an MRC Career Investigator,
he was the founding Director of the Biotechnology Laboratory from 1987 to 1995.
Dr. Smith was also the founding Scientific Leader of the Protein
Engineering Network Centers of Excellence. In 1996 he was named Peter
Wall Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology and he subsequently became
the founding Director of the Genome Sequencing
Center at the BC Cancer Research Agency.
In 1993, Dr. Michael Smith received the Nobel Prize for
his development of the technique of site-directed mutagenesis, a technique
which allows the DNA sequence of any gene to be altered in a designated
manner. He donated half of the Nobel prize money to researchers working
on the genetics of schizophrenia, a widespread mental disorder for which
research money is scarce. The other half he gave to Science World BC and
to the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology. The Royal
Bank Award, which he received in 1999, included a companion grant which
he promptly donated to the BC Cancer Foundation.
Michael Smith was a distinguished and creative scientist,
a humble man known for his humanity. He gave generously to the people
of Canada and the world, using his time and energy to reach out to audiences
with his message about the importance of science to everyone's life. As
an advocate for science, Michael Smith was nearly irresistible. Whether
he was speaking to audiences of government policy makers or to schoolchildren,
people couldn't help but respond to his message. In part, that's because
the brilliant research scientist was also a regular guy - a person who
knew how to relate to the challenges faced by people outside academia.
Dr. Smith was a natural leader who made the journey from humble beginnings
to scientific greatness without losing touch with his roots.
Ferrer, J.C., Turano, P., Banci, L., Bertini, I., Morris, I.K., Smith, K.M.,
Smith, M., Mauk, A.G. (1994). Active site coordination chemistry of the
cytochrome c peroxidase Asp235Ala variant: Spectroscopic and functional characterization.
Biochem. 33: (25) 7819-7829.
Guillemette, J.G., Barker, P.D., Eltis, L.D., Lo, T.P., Smith, M., Brayer,
G.D., Mauk, A.G. (1994). Analysis of the biomolecular reducation of ferricytochrome
c by ferrocytochrome b5 through mutagenesis and molecular modelling. Biochimie
76: 592-604.
Berghuis, A.M., Guillemette, J.G., Smith, M., and Brayer, G.D. (1994).
Mutation of tyrosine-67 to phenylamaine in cytochrome c significantly alters
the local heme environment. J. Mol. Biol. 235: 1326-1341.
Rafferty, S.P., Guillemette, J.G., Smith, M., and Mauk, A.G. (1996).
Azide binding and active site dynamics of position-82 variants of ferricytochrome
c. Inorg. Chem. Acta.242: 171-177.
Woods, A.C., Guillemette, J.G., Parraish, J.C., Smith, M., Wallace,
C.J.A. (1996). Synergy in Protein Engineering. Mutagenic manipulation of protein
structure to simplify semisynthesis. J. Biol. Chem. 271: (50)
32008-32015.
Hildebrand, D.P., Ferrer, J.C., Tang, H.-L., Smith, M., and Mauk, A.G.
(1996). Trans effects on cysteine ligation in the proximal His93Cys variant
of horse heart myoglobin. Biocchemistry 34: 11598-11605.
Hildebrand, D.P., Ferrer, J.C., Tang, H.-L., Luo, Y., Hunter, C.L., Brayer,
G.D., Smith, M. and Mauk, A.G. (1996). Efficient coupled oxidation of
heme by an active site variant of horse heart myoglobin. J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 118: (51) 12909-12915.
Manurus, R., Overall, C.M., Bogumil, R., Luo, Y., Mauk, A.G., Smith, M.,
and Brayer, G.D. (1997). Thermal stabilization of horse heart myoglobin through
modification of ahydrophobic cluster in the proximal heme pocket. Biochem.
Acta. 1341: 1-13.
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