Smith, George P.

George P. Smith, (born March 10, 1941, Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.), American biochemist known for his development of phage display, a laboratory technique employing bacteriophages (bacteria-infecting viruses) for the investigation of protein-protein, protein-DNA, and protein-peptide interactions. Phage display proved valuable to the development of treatments for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis and contributed to the investigation of disease-causing peptides, such as those produced by Plasmodium falciparum, a parasite that causes malaria. For his discoveries, Smith was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which he shared with American chemist Frances Arnold and British-born biochemist Sir Greg Winter.

Smith carried out his undergraduate studies at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania, earning an A.B. degree in biology in 1963. He later earned a Ph.D. (1970) in bacteriology and immunology from Harvard University. In 1975, after working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin, where he studied under British-born American scientist and later Nobelist Oliver Smithies, Smith went to the University of Missouri, joining the faculty as an assistant professor of biological sciences. Smith remained at Missouri for the duration of his career, eventually becoming Curators’ Distinguished Professor in 2000.

In 1983, while on sabbatical, Smith went to Duke University. There he developed fusion proteins by inserting foreign DNA fragments into phage gene III, which encoded a coat protein expressed on the phage virion surface. When taken up by a phage, fusion proteins generated via gene III were displayed on the virion surface. Phage display enabled purification through antibody recognition, whereby antibodies directed against the foreign amino acid sequence could be added to culture dishes to select for fusion phages, producing cultures enriched with a specific fusion phage.

Phage display was revolutionary at the time in part because it enabled researchers to clone and amplify foreign gene sequences. The technique also laid the foundation for Sir Greg Winter’s research on the directed evolution of antibodies and his use of phage display to develop novel antibody-based therapies. Adalimumab, the first human antibody therapy produced using phage display, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002 for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Smith was a recipient of the Promega Biotechnology Research Award (2007).