Hamilton O. Smith

Hamilton Othanel Smith (born August 23, 1931 in New York) is an American <a href="/facts/Microbiologist/cqEyJwNK">microbiologist</a> and Nobel laureate.
Smith graduated from <a href="/facts/University_Laboratory_High_School_of_Urbana,_Illinois/L9wmPlCG">University Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois</a>. He attended the <a href="/facts/University_of_Illinois_at_Urbana-Champaign/gusw7HoS">University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign</a>, but in 1950 transferred to the <a href="/facts/University_of_California,_Berkeley/MXVEjklr">University of California, Berkeley</a>, where he earned his <a href="/facts/Bachelor_of_Arts/2pa1nwfR">B.A.</a> in Mathematics in 1952 <a href="http://cal.berkeley.edu">[1]</a>. He received his medical degree from <a href="/facts/Johns_Hopkins_School_of_Medicine/Mh6EHzKP">Johns Hopkins School of Medicine</a> in 1956. Between 1956 and 1957 Smith worked for the <a href="/facts/Washington_University_in_St._Louis/GmIT8zU6">Washington University in St. Louis</a> Medical Service. In 1975, he was awarded a <a href="/facts/Guggenheim_Fellowship/SuatTbVK">Guggenheim Fellowship</a> he spent at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Zurich/BXmxTYKh">University of Zurich</a>.
In 1970, Smith and Kent W. Wilcox discovered the first type II <a href="/facts/Restriction_enzyme/Mg0VgkCX">restriction enzyme</a>, which is now known as HindII. Smith went on to discover DNA <a href="/facts/Methylase/MIpCDLdh">methylases</a> that constitute the other half of the bacterial host restriction and modification systems, as hypothesized by <a href="/facts/Werner_Arber/ztkcDjuy">Werner Arber</a> of Switzerland.
He was awarded the <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Physiology_or_Medicine/rlnpJX84">Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine</a> in 1978 for discovering type II <a href="/facts/Restriction_enzyme/Mg0VgkCX">restriction enzymes</a> with <a href="/facts/Werner_Arber/ztkcDjuy">Werner Arber</a> and <a href="/facts/Daniel_Nathans/jfkaaceo">Daniel Nathans</a> as co-recipients.
He later became a leading figure in the nascent field of <a href="/facts/Genomics/pVU3BGpL">genomics</a>, when in 1995 he and a team at <a href="/facts/The_Institute_for_Genomic_Research/DbkzaphX">The Institute for Genomic Research</a> sequenced the first <a href="/facts/Bacteria/wC8xSCsU">bacterial</a> <a href="/facts/Genome/31Sm08JT">genome</a>, that of <a href="/facts/Haemophilus_influenzae/wqIpoDI1">Haemophilus influenzae</a>. H. influenza was the same organism in which Smith had discovered restriction enzymes in the late 1960s. He subsequently played a key role in the sequencing of many of the early genomes at The Institute for Genomic Research, and in the assembly of the <a href="/facts/Human_genome/VTV85pbn">human genome</a> at <a href="/facts/Celera_Genomics/9bEVX6TQ">Celera Genomics</a>, which he joined when it was founded in 1998.
More recently, he has directed a team at the <a href="/facts/J._Craig_Venter_Institute/DbkzaphX">J. Craig Venter Institute</a> that works towards creating a partially <a href="/facts/Synthetic_biology/rHSNe8j3">synthetic</a> bacterium, <a href="/facts/Mycoplasma_laboratorium/jQPBP1Ue">Mycoplasma laboratorium</a>. In 2003 the same group synthetically assembled the genome of a virus, <a href="/facts/Phi_X_174/P84nV47b">Phi X 174</a> <a href="/facts/Bacteriophage/L2Ll0T3q">bacteriophage</a>. Smith is scientific director of privately held <a href="/facts/Synthetic_Genomics/b0djFDj5">Synthetic Genomics</a>, which was founded in 2005 by <a href="/facts/Craig_Venter/qr1BPR53">Craig Venter</a> to continue this work. Synthetic Genomics is working to produce <a href="/facts/Biofuel/RWu7b6Y3">biofuels</a> on an industrial-scale using recombinant <a href="/facts/Algae/U1ftVKU3">algae</a> and other microorganisms.

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Hamilton O. Smith