Michael Smith (chemist)

Michael Smith
Michael Smith
Born	(1932-04-26)26 April 1932[2] Blackpool, England
Died	4 October 2000(2000-10-04) (aged 68) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	University of Manchester (BSc, PhD)
Known for	Site-directed mutagenesis
Awards	FRS (1986)[1] Flavelle Medal (1992) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1993)
Scientific career
Fields	Chemistry
Institutions	University of British Columbia University of Wisconsin–Madison
Thesis	Studies in the stereochemistry of diols and their derivatives (1956)
Website	www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1993/smith-facts.html

Michael Smith CC OBC FRS^[1] (April 26, 1932 – October 4, 2000) was a British-born Canadian biochemist and businessman. He shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry^[3] with Kary Mullis for his work in developing site-directed mutagenesis. Following a PhD in 1956 from the University of Manchester,^[4] he undertook postdoctoral research with Har Gobind Khorana (himself a Nobel Prize winner) at the British Columbia Research Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Subsequently, Smith worked at the Fisheries Research Board of Canada Laboratory in Vancouver before being appointed a professor of biochemistry in the UBC Faculty of Medicine in 1966. Smith's career included roles as the founding director of the UBC Biotechnology Laboratory (1987 to 1995) and the founding scientific leader of the Protein Engineering Network of Centres of Excellence (PENCE). In 1996 he was named Peter Wall Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology. Subsequently, he became the founding director of the Genome Sequencing Centre (now called the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre) at the BC Cancer Research Centre.