Oliver Smithies

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Oliver Smithies
Smithies with the American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (2009)
Born(1925-06-23)23 June 1925
Halifax, West Yorkshire, England
Died10 January 2017(2017-01-10) (aged 91)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US
NationalityBritish, American
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (BA, DPhil)
Known for
SpouseNobuyo Maeda[3]
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
ThesisPhysico-chemical properties of solutions of proteins (1951)
Doctoral advisorAlexander G. Ogston[2]

Oliver Smithies (23 June 1925 – 10 January 2017) was a British-American

knockout mice.[5][6][7] He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2007 for his genetics work.[8][9]

Early life and education

Smithies was born in

telescopes.[11]

He attended

Master of Arts degree and a Doctor of Philosophy in biochemistry under Ogston's supervision; his thesis was entitled "Physico-chemical properties of solutions of proteins".[13][2]

Career

Oliver Smithies (second on the left)

Smithies was awarded a

Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.[14]

In 1960, Smithies returned to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he worked in the Department of Genetics until 1988 as, successively, assistant, associate and Leon J. Cole and Hilldale Professor of Genetics and Medical Genetics.[11] Subsequently, he was the Excellence Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[15] He continued to work in his lab there daily into his eighties.[6][16] He co-authored a total of more than 350 research papers and reviews, dating from 1948 to 2016.[17]

Research

Smithies developed the technique of

plasma proteins, and in collaboration with Norma Ford Walker, showed that the variation was inherited, which stimulated his interest in genetics.[10]

While at the University of Wisconsin in the 1980s, Smithies developed

high blood pressure using genetically altered mice.[15]

Awards and honors

Smithies won the 2001 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, jointly with Martin Evans (Cardiff University) and Mario Capecchi (University of Utah), for their work on homologous recombination.[20] He received the Wolf Prize in Medicine, with Capecchi and Ralph L. Brinster, in 2002/3.[21] He won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly with Capecchi and Evans, "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells."[8]

His other awards include two

O. Max Gardner Award, the highest award for faculty in the University of North Carolina system (2002),[18] the Massry Prize of the Meira and Shaul G. Massry Foundation (2002), shared with Capecchi,[15] the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, jointly with Capecchi (2005),[28] and the American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (2009).[29]

Smithies was elected to the

Royal Society[30] (ForMemRS; 1998).[1] He received honorary degrees from the University of Chicago (1991),[31] the University of São Paulo (2008)[32] and the University of Oxford (2011).[33]

A blue plaque to him was erected by the Halifax Civic Trust.[34]

Personal life

Smithies married Lois Kitze, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin, in the 1950s; they separated in 1978.

color-blind, was a licensed private airplane pilot who enjoyed gliding.[11][12] He described himself as an atheist.[13]

Smithies died on 10 January 2017 at the age of 91.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b "Fellows of the Royal Society". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015.
  2. ^
    EThOS uk.bl.ethos.672736
    .
  3. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007".
  4. PMID 13276348
    .
  5. S2CID 26845944
    .
  6. ^
    PMID 21415407
    .
  7. PMID 26020970. Open access icon
  8. ^ a b "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007". The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 8 October 2007.
  9. S2CID 33591979
    .
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h "Oliver Smithies - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media. 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  11. ^ a b c d e Altman, Lawrence K. (9 October 2007). "3 Win Nobel in Medicine for Gene Technology". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  12. ^ a b c d Kolata, Gina (17 October 1995). "Scientist at Work: Oliver Smithies; Sprinting Along for Five Decades". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  13. ^ a b "Oliver Smithies Interview: Session 1" (PDF). UCLA Oral History of Human Genetics. 27 October 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017. But that tells you about my religious affiliation, which is not very strong, and I must say I'm not even an agnostic. I'm just an atheist in real life.
  14. S2CID 43393155
    .
  15. ^ a b c d "Smithies wins top award from Massry Foundation". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill News Service. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  16. ^ Mark Derewicz (1 January 2008). "Life at the Bench". Endeavors. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  17. ^ "Bibliography". Dr. Oliver Smithies Research Archive. University of North Carolina. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h "Oliver Smithies, Carolina's first Nobel laureate, passes away at 91 – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill". The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 11 January 2017.
  19. ^ Oliver Smithies: Biography, Royal Society, retrieved 13 January 2017
  20. ^ "2001 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research". Lasker Foundation. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
  21. ISBN 978-981-4291-73-6
    .
  22. ^ "Oliver Smithies MA, PhD: Recipient of the Canada Gairdner International Award, 1990". Gairdner Foundation. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  23. ^ "Oliver Smithies MA, PhD: Recipient of the Canada Gairdner International Award, 1993". Gairdner Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  24. ^ North Carolina Award for Science, 1993 Archived 15 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine: NC Awards website. Retrieved on 23 January 2008.
  25. ^ "Previous Prize Winners: Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Prize (1990 - 2002)". General Motors. Archived from the original on 19 November 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  26. ^ a b "Institute of Medicine elects Oliver Smithies". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill News Service. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  27. ^ "Oliver Smithies wins major award from Japanese research foundation". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill News Service. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  28. ^ "March of Dimes Awards $250,000 Prize to Pioneers in Genetic Research". March of Dimes. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  29. ^ "Gold Medal Award Winners". American Institute of Chemists. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  30. ^ Ballou, Byron (2024). "Oliver Smithies. 23 June 1925 — 10 January 2017". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 76.
  31. ^ "Commencements; First Lady Urges Tolerance at Northeastern Graduation". The New York Times. 16 June 1991. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  32. ^ "Oliver Smithies receives the Doctor Honoris Causa". University of São Paulo. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  33. ^ "Honorary degrees awarded at Encaenia". University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  34. ^ "List of Blue Plaques". Halifax Civic Trust. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  35. ^ "The y-chromosome is the biggest threat to humanity". The Local. 10 December 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
  36. ^ Gellene, Denise (11 January 2017). "Oliver Smithies, Tinkerer Who Transformed Genetics and Won a Nobel, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2017.

External links

Scholia has an author profile for Oliver Smithies.
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