One of the world’s leading molecular biologists
In the early days of the genetics revolution Michael Smith developed a critical technique that has become central to the field of genetic engineering known as site directed mutagenesis, the deliberate and predictable altering of the coding sequence of genes. His technique of manipulating DNA became a fundamental tool in biotechnology and facilitated the proliferation of genetic studies. This genetic research has found many applications and advanced many subfields of science and medicine. For his contributions, Michael Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize.