Smithies, an Excellence Professor of Pathology and Medicine from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, spoke to an eager crowd on the history and development of his research in a speech titled, "Turning Pages: From Gels to Gene Targeting."
Hara Misra, professor and associate dean for Biomedical Research Affairs at VCOM, secured Smithies as a speaker at the event after having worked with him for years at the Duke University Medical Center.
"It's wonderful to have him here. As the keynote speaker, he's the one who sets the tone for the day," Misra said. "Our conference theme this year is genetic disease and gene therapy and he's the right person, right in the middle of research."
The audience mostly consisted of second-year VCOM students, many of whom were thrilled to learn a Nobel Laureate was speaking at the event.
"I knew we had a Nobel Laureate coming, but I had no idea that Dr. Smithies would be speaking," said second year VCOM student Jenna Shenk. "I was very excited."
Smithies was awarded the Nobel Prize last year along with his two colleagues, Mario Capecchi and Martin Evans, for their genetic discoveries of "principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells." This is also known as gene targeting, where homologous recombination is used to artificially alter DNA. This discovery resulted in the creation of the first knockout mice in 1989. Knockout (or transgenic) mice are now commonly used in the biological sciences to test the purposes of certain genes, usually by removing the gene and observing the effects.
In addition to gene manipulation, Smithies has a long history of other accomplishments in his field, including instrumental work on gel electrophoresis, a technique used for separating genetic material such as DNA. His current research focuses on facilitating studies of human genetic diseases, their pathologies and treatment. Specifically, he is working on hypertension and hemoglobinopathies.
Smithies was born in Great Britain and attended Oxford University, earning degrees in physiology and chemistry, as well as a doctorate degree in biochemistry.
He worked for many years at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, but transferred to UNC-Chapel Hill in the late 1970s with his wife, Nobuyo Maeda, a fellow speaker at the Via Research Recognition Day.
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