Oliver Smithies

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Oliver Smithies was a British-American geneticist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who made pivotal contributions to genetics spanning five decades. Early in his career, he invented starch gel electrophoresis, which transformed serum protein analysis and population genetics. Decades later, he pioneered gene targeting by homologous recombination in mammalian cells, demonstrating that exogenously introduced DNA could recombine precisely with homologous chromosomal sequences and replace or modify specific genes. By combining this technique with Mario Capecchi's improvements and Martin Evans's ES cell system, gene targeting became a practical tool for creating mouse models of human genetic disease. Smithies created mouse models of sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, and hypertension that remain invaluable for understanding disease mechanisms and testing therapies. He shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Capecchi and Evans. Smithies remained scientifically active well into his eighties and continued to generate important insights into the genetic regulation of blood pressure. He passed away in 2017.