Janet Louise Smith (born 1951)[1] is the Margaret J. Hunter Collegiate Professor in the Life Sciences Institute, director of the Center for Structural Biology at the University of Michigan, professor of biological chemistry and biophysics at the University of Michigan, and research professor in the Life Sciences Institute.[2] Additionally, she is the scientific director of The General Medical Sciences and Cancer Institutes’ structural biology facility at the Advanced Photon Source (GM/CA @ APS).[3][4]

Janet L. Smith
Alma materIndiana University of Pennsylvania; University of Wisconsin-Madison
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Doctoral advisorM. Sundaralingam
Other academic advisorsM. Sundaralingam, Wayne Hendrickson
Websitewww.lsi.umich.edu/science/our-labs/janet-smith-lab

Biography edit

Smith is native of Pennsylvania and studied chemistry as a National Merit Scholar at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (BS, 1973).[5] She continued her study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Ph.D., 1978) in structure in biology under Dr. M. Sundaralingam supervision.[6] she continued to do her postdoctoral work with Wayne Hendrickson at the Naval Research Laboratory as a National Research Council Research Fellow.

Research edit

Smith's research group focus on the understanding of proteins to the molecular level through structural biology. The main experimental technique employed in her lab is X-ray crystallography used to elucidate protein structures. Some of her research findings solved Crystal structures. Janet's lab has also worked towards method development for rapid structure determination.[7] Her lab contributed to the development of multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) used routinely for structure determination.[8]

Her research group have revealed the molecular structure of a protein produced by the Zika virus that is thought to be involved in the virus's reproduction and its interaction with a host's immune system.[9]

Award and Honors edit

  1. Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2007)[2]
  2. National Institutes of Health MERIT award recipient (1998–2008)[2]
  • Mildred Cohn Award in Biological Chemistry (2022)

References edit

  1. ^ "Janet Louise Smith's Michigan Voter Registration". voterrecords.com. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  2. ^ a b c "JANET SMITH LAUDED WITH LECTURESHIP AWARD". Michigan Medicine Headlines. September 15, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  3. ^ "GM/CA Staff". gmca.aps.anl.gov. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  4. ^ MITCH JACOBY (2005-06-29). "New Beamlines Dedicated At Argonne". Chemical & Engineering News. ISSN 0009-2347.
  5. ^ "2001 McCoy Award Recipient". purdue.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-08-10. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  6. ^ "2019 Hutchinson Lecture – Dr. Janet Smith". School of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  7. ^ "Janet Smith Lab". Life Sciences Institute. 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  8. ^ "Smith Lab – Research". Life Sciences Institute. 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  9. ^ "Researchers 'solve' key Zika virus protein structure". ScienceDaily. July 25, 2016. Retrieved 2020-03-23.

External links edit