Michael Smith (1932-2000)

Awarded the Prize “for his contributions to the developments of methods within DNA-based chemistry, for his fundamental contributions to the establishment of oligonucleiotide-based, site-directed mutagenesis its development for protein studies.”

Canadian biochemist. Smith was born at Blackpool, Lancashire, Engl on April 26, 1932. He entered the University of Manchester in 1950 earned his Ph.D. in 1956. In the same year he moved to Canada to work for the British Columbia Research Council. In 1966 he began teaching at the University of British Columbia, an affiliation that lasted more than 30 years. In 1987 Smith founded became director of the university’s biotechnology laboratory. In 1997 he became Director of the Genome Sequence Centre at the Cancer Agency. Smith died in Vancouver, Canada on October 4, 2000.