Майкл Смит: Нобель сыйлық лауреаты және молекулалық биологияның дамуына қосқан үлесі

British born Canadian biochemist, businessman and Nobel Prize laureate (1932–2000)

Michael Smith with Kary Mullis for his work in developing site directed mutagenesis. Following a PhD in 1956 from the University of Manchester,

Smith first attended St. Nicholas Church of England School, a state run elementary school. At the time, few children from state schools in England went on to further academic education, however Smith did well in the eleven plus exam, and was an exception. A scholarship enabled him to attend the Arnold School for Boys. A further scholarship allowed him to study Chemistry at the University of Manchester, where he pursued his interest in industrial chemistry and was awarded a BSc followed by a PhD in 1956 for research into the stereochemistry of diols.

Smith's research career began with a post doctoral fellowship at the British Columbia Research Council under the supervision of Khorana, who was developing new techniques of synthesizing nucleotides. The application of principles of physics and chemistry to living organisms was new at that time; DNA had been identified as the genetic material of a cell, and Khorana and others were investigating how DNA encoded the proteins that constituted an organism. In 1960, when Khorana was offered and accepted a university position with excellent laboratory facilities in the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Smith moved with him. After a few months in Wisconsin, Smith returned to Vancouver as a senior scientist and head of the Chemistry Division with the Vancouver Technological Station of the Fisheries Research Board (FRB) of Canada. In this role he conducted studies on the feeding habits and survival of spawning salmon, as well as identification of olfactory stimuli guiding salmon to their birth stream. His main research interest, however, continued to be nucleic acid synthesis, for which he received a United States Public Health Service Research Grant. Concurrently with conducting research for FRB, Smith held the positions of associate professor at the University of British Columbia's (UBC) Department of Biochemistry and honorary professor in the Department of Zoology. In 1966, Smith was appointed a research associate of the Medical Research Council of Canada, working within UBC's Department of Biochemistry. Smith's particular area of interest remained the synthesis of oligonucleotides and the characterization of their properties. In 1975–1976, a sabbatical at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in England with Fred Sanger placed Smith at the forefront of research into the organization of genes and genomes and methods of sequencing large DNA molecules. He returned from England as one of the world's leading molecular biologists. Smith and his team began to investigate possibility of the creation of mutations of any site within a viral genome. If possible, this process could be an efficient method to engineer heritable changes in genes. Finally, in 1977 they confirmed Smith's theory. For the team's work in developing oligonucleotide directed site directed mutagenesis, Smith shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kary Mullis, the inventor of polymerase chain reaction. centered pull quote|Using site directed mutagenesis, scientists have been able to dissect the structure and function relationships involved in protein plaque formation in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease; study the feasibility of gene therapy approaches for cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, and hemophilia; determine the characteristics of protein receptors at neurotransmitter binding sites and design analogs with novel pharmaceutical properties; examine the viral proteins involved in immunodeficiency disease; and improve the properties of industrial enzymes used in food science and technology.

In 1981 Smith ventured into the business world as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur. In collaboration with Professors Earl W. Davie and Benjamin D. Hall of the University of Washington founded ZymoGenetics in Seattle, Washington, US. The company began working on recombinant proteins in an international initiative with Novo Nordisk of Denmark. Recombinant DNA is used mostly in basic research. ZymoGenetics was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb. Further applications of recombinant DNA are found in human and veterinary medicine, in agriculture, and in bioengineering.