In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 26 April 1932
- Died
- 2000
- Birthplace
- Blackpool, England
- Country
- Canada
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Oligonucleotide-based site-directed mutagenesis
- Research method
- Site-directed mutagenesis
- University
- University of British Columbia
Why this life matters
His career connects a chemical method for testing gene function with the teams and institutions needed to extend it.
Timeline
Key moments
Doctoral training completed
Received his PhD from Manchester before postdoctoral work in Canada.
UBC appointment
Joined the university faculty.
Six-author research paper
The team published evidence of specified DNA changes.
Biotechnology Laboratory
Became founding director of the newly opened unit.
Chemistry Nobel
Recognised for mutagenesis work; Mullis was recognised for PCR.
Manchester training and a move to Vancouver
Smith was born in Blackpool in 1932 and earned his chemistry doctorate at Manchester in 1956. He subsequently worked with Har Gobind Khorana in Vancouver. The contemporary university obituary identifies the B.C. Research Council fellowship and dates Smith’s arrival on the UBC faculty to 1966.
These institutional names matter: a later UBC summary places Khorana’s postdoctoral laboratory at the university, whereas the contemporary obituary distinguishes the research council from Smith’s subsequent university appointment. The career can be followed without merging those organisations.
Making a chosen genetic change testable
Site-directed mutagenesis gave researchers a way to introduce a specified change into a known DNA sequence. That allowed a deliberately altered sequence to be studied against a reference, rather than relying only on mutations found by chance.
The 1978 paper associated with this development has six authors: Clyde Hutchison III, Sandra Phillips, Marshall Edgell, Shirley Gillam, Patricia Jahnke and Smith. Its record links work at North Carolina and British Columbia. The method’s familiar association with Smith should preserve that collaborative authorship.
Building a biotechnology community
UBC’s historical timeline dates the opening of its Biotechnology Laboratory to 1987 and identifies Smith as founding director. Its account describes appointments across scientific and engineering disciplines, followed by Doug Kilburn’s succession in 1996. The institution was renamed the Michael Smith Laboratories when its new building opened in 2004.
The 1993 Nobel recognised Smith’s mutagenesis work alongside Kary Mullis’s PCR work. Those are different methods: changing a selected sequence and amplifying DNA are related research capabilities, but they are not interchangeable discoveries.
Sources for this section: [5]
A legacy beyond the prize
At his death in 2000, Smith was directing the BC Cancer Agency’s Genome Sequence Centre. UBC’s contemporary obituary records his support for schizophrenia research, women in science and science education through donations associated with his Nobel award.
That legacy includes both published research and shared infrastructure. Laboratories, trained colleagues and genome-science organisations carried work forward after his own experimental career; their later discoveries should retain their own teams’ credit.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Michael Smith
- Did Michael Smith invent PCR?
- The 1993 award recognised his mutagenesis work and Kary Mullis’s separate PCR contribution.
- Who worked on the 1978 paper?
- Its author list includes Hutchison, Phillips, Edgell, Gillam, Jahnke and Smith.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Har Gobind Khorana
Smith undertook postdoctoral work with Khorana in Vancouver.
- Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Explore a different route from molecular biology to understanding proteins.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Canadian Medical Hall of FameLaureate birth and education record, indexed
The Hall of Fame records 5 October 2000 and the Lindau CV 4 October; this profile therefore retains the secure year only.
- 2. Lindau Nobel Laureate MeetingsVital-date comparison only, indexed CV
Only the selected vital-date comparison is used; other CV statements are not adopted as a new account of his methods or institutional geography.
- 3. UBC ReportsContemporary university obituary,19 October 2000
- 4. UBC Michael Smith LaboratoriesMichael Smith life and legacy section
- 5. UBC Michael Smith LaboratoriesLaboratory timeline, selected 1987–2004 entries
Selected 1987,1993,1996 and 2004 entries inspected; the full modern institutional timeline is not treated as Smith’s personal achievement.
- 6. Hutchison and colleagues; PubMed1978 article: authors, affiliations and abstract record
The actual bibliographic record and abstract were inspected; the complete experimental paper was not read or reproduced.
- 7. Hutchison and colleagues; Journal of Biological Chemistry, institutional copy1978 paper: indexed first-page authors and affiliations
Only the actual indexed first-page block was inspected; this institutional copy was not acquired in full. It is the same 1978 work as the PubMed record, not an additional source allowance.