Jeremy Christopher Smith is a British-born computational molecular biophysicist.

Early life and education

Smith was educated at Earlham High School, the

City of Norwich School The City of Norwich School, more commonly known as CNS, is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Norwich, England. History In 1910, the Education Committee decided to merge the King Edward VI Middle School in ...

(at which his doctoral advisor, Stephen A. Cusack, was also a pupil) and

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

then obtained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in Biophysics from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. Smith has a daughter, Serena, who was born in 1994.

Career

After his doctoral work, Smith worked as a post-doctoral associate and lecturer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in the group of

Martin Karplus Martin Karplus (born March 15, 1930) is an Austrian and American theoretical chemist. He is the Director of the Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory, a joint laboratory between the French National Center for Scientific Research and the University of St ...

. Smith has since built up research groups in three different countries. His first group was in Biomolecular Simulation at the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA) at Saclay,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(1989–1998). He then became the first chaired professor in

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fo ...

in Germany, when appointed at the

Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing 200px, South west view of the IWR building, located at Heidelberg's New Campus (until March 2016) The Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (short IWR) is a scientific research institute of the Heidelberg University, Germany. It centr ...

of the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1998. In October 2006 Smith became the first Governor's Chair at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

and also Director of the UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics at

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research and ...

. His move to Tennessee arose from the presence at ORNL of world-class supercomputing capabilities, and the Spallation Neutron Source, as the combination of neutron scattering with computer simulation has been a sustained interest of his. In 2008, Smith was appointed ''Honorarprofessor'' (i.e., honorary professor) at the University of Heidelberg. Smith has performed and directed research in a wide variety of fields, ranging from physics and chemistry through to practical areas such as renewable energy, environmental science and medicine. He has made advances in the high-performance

computer simulation Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be dete ...

of biological macromolecules, neutron scattering in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, the

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

proteins Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

enzyme catalysis Enzyme catalysis is the increase in the rate of a process by a biological molecule, an "enzyme". Most enzymes are proteins, and most such processes are chemical reactions. Within the enzyme, generally catalysis occurs at a localized site, calle ...

bioenergy Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

, environmental

biogeochemistry Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment (including the biosphere, the cryosphere, t ...

, and early-stage drug discovery, and in the latter his group has discovered experimentally-validated lead compounds for many different protein targets and for a variety of diseases such as diabetes, prostate cancer, bacterial infections and osteoporosis. His group has also contributed to the design of vaccines against Group A Streptococcus and cancer. As of 2019 Smith had published well over 400 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Smith has been the supervisor of several established Biophysicists, such as Benoît Roux, Frank Noé, Jerome Baudry, Ana Bondar, amongst others.

References

External links

Center for Molecular Biophysics
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Computational Molecular Biophysics
University of Heidelberg 1959 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of London British expatriate academics in the United States English biophysicists Harvard University staff Living people People educated at the City of Norwich School Academic staff of Heidelberg University University of Tennessee faculty {{UK-scientist-stub