Jim Cuthbert Smith

{{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Jim Smith | birth_name = James Cuthbert Smith | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FMedSci|size=100%}} | image = James_Cuthbert_(Jim)_Smith.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1954|12|31}} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Christ's College, Cambridge * Middlesex Hospital Medical School}} | workplaces = {{hlist|Wellcome Trust|Francis Crick Institute}} | spouse = {{marriage|Fiona Watt|1979}} | thesis_title = Studies of positional signalling along the antero-posterior axis of the developing chick limb | thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.473165 | thesis_year = 1979 | doctoral_advisor = Lewis Wolpert<ref name=wolpert>{{cite journal|last1=Weston|first1=Kathy|title=The accidental biologist: an interview with Jim Smith|journal=Disease Models & Mechanisms|volume=3|issue=1–2|year=2010|pages=11–14|doi=10.1242/dmm.004952|pmid= 20075376|doi-access=free}}</ref> | awards = {{Plainlist| * Knight Bachelor (2017)<ref name=sirjim/> * Waddington Medal (2013)<ref name=wad/> * EMBO Gold Medal (1993)}} | website = {{URL|crick.ac.uk/jim-smith}} }} '''Sir James Cuthbert Smith''' (born 31 December 1954)<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who | title=Smith, Sir James Cuthbert | id = U35379 | author=Anon|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.35379|year = 2016 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford}}</ref> is an Emeritus Scientist<ref name="The Crick">{{cite web |title=Jim Smith - Emeritus Scientist |url=https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/jim-smith |website=The Francis Crick Institute |access-date=17 May 2024}}</ref> at the Francis Crick Institute, Honorary Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge<ref name="Christ's College">{{cite web |title=Professor Sir James (Jim) Cuthbert Smith |url=https://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/college/people/fellows/professor-sir-james-jim-cuthbert-smith |website=Christ's College, University of Cambridge |access-date=17 May 2024}}</ref> and President of the Council at the Zoological Society of London.<ref name=frs/><ref name=twitter>{{twitter}}</ref><ref name="Watts2016">{{cite journal|last1=Watts|first1=Geoff|title=Jim Smith: biologist at the heart of embryonic Francis Crick Institute|journal=The Lancet|volume=387|issue=10031|year=2016|pages=1899|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30409-3|pmid= 27203642|s2cid=205981791 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607115452/https://www.crick.ac.uk/jim-smith/|archive-date=2016-06-07|url=https://www.crick.ac.uk/jim-smith/|publisher=crick.ac.uk|location=London|title=Jim Smith: Developmental Biology Laboratory|work=The Francis Crick Institute }}</ref><ref name=wolpert/><ref name=epmc>{{EuropePMC|ORCID=0000-0003-2413-9392}}</ref>Lewis Wolpert

==Education== Smith was educated at Latymer Upper School<ref name=whoswho/> and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences in 1976.<ref name=wolpert/> He was awarded a PhD in 1979 by University College London (UCL) for research supervised by Lewis Wolpert at Middlesex Hospital Medical School.<ref name=wolpert/><ref>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University College London (University of London)|title=Studies of positional signalling along the antero – posterior axis of the developing chick limb|first= James Cuthbert|last=Smith|year=1979|url=http://catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/record=b1582812|website=london.ac.uk|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.473165}}|oclc=500567020}}</ref><ref name=nimrhistblog>{{cite web|title=James Cuthbert Smith FRS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060405/http://www.historyofnimr.org.uk/biographies-of-nimr-scientists/james-cuthbert-smith-frs/|archive-date=2016-03-04|url=http://www.historyofnimr.org.uk/biographies-of-nimr-scientists/james-cuthbert-smith-frs/|publisher=historyofnimr.org.uk|location=London}}</ref><ref name=nimrhist>{{cite book|last1=MRC National Institute for Medical Research|title=A Century of Science for Health|date=2013|publisher=MRC National Institute for Medical Research}}</ref><ref name="Smith1999">{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Jim|title=T-box genes: what they do and how they do it|journal=Trends in Genetics|volume=15|issue=4|year=1999|pages=154–158|doi=10.1016/S0168-9525(99)01693-5|pmid=10203826 }}</ref>

==Career and research== Smith completed postdoctoral research appointments at Harvard Medical School from 1979 to 1981 and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK) from 1981 to 1984. In 1984 he joined the staff of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), becoming head of the Division of Developmental Biology in 1991 and head of the Genes and Cellular Control Group in 1996. He moved to become director of the Gurdon Institute in 2001, returning to NIMR in 2009 to become its director. In 2014 he became Deputy CEO of the Medical Research Council in addition to his role as NIMR Director.<ref name=frs/> When NIMR joined the CRUK London Research Institute as part of the Francis Crick Institute he became director of research at the Crick. He stepped down from his MRC and Crick roles in 2017 when he became Director of Science at Wellcome.<ref>[https://wellcome.org/news/new-director-science New Director of Science]</ref> He led the Wellcome Science Review in 2019.<ref>[https://wellcome.org/news/how-should-wellcome-best-support-science-achieve-our-mission-improving-health How should Wellcome best support science to achieve our mission of improving health?]</ref> In 2021 he left Wellcome and became Secretary of the Zoological Society of London.<ref>[https://www.zsl.org/about-us/council-members ZSL Council members]</ref>

Smith's research has focused on how cells of the very early vertebrate embryo form the specialised tissues of muscle, skin, blood and bone.<ref name=nimrhistblog /> His discovery of a mesoderm-inducing factor secreted by a cell line and establishing its identity as activin transformed the study of induction in the early embryo. He also showed that activin specifies different cell types at different thresholds<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Green |first=J. B. |last2=New |first2=H. V. |last3=Smith |first3=J. C. |date=1992-11-27 |title=Responses of embryonic Xenopus cells to activin and FGF are separated by multiple dose thresholds and correspond to distinct axes of the mesoderm |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1423628 |journal=Cell |volume=71 |issue=5 |pages=731–739 |doi=10.1016/0092-8674(92)90550-v |issn=0092-8674 |pmid=1423628}}</ref> and that characteristic genes like Brachyury<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1016/S0012-1606(03)00244-6| title = Evolution of Brachyury proteins: identification of a novel regulatory domain conserved within Bilateria| year = 2003| last1 = Marcellini | first1 = S.| journal = Developmental Biology| volume = 260| pages = 352–361| pmid = 12921737| last2 = Technau | first2 = U.| last3 = Smith | first3 = J.| last4 = Lemaire | first4 = P.| issue = 2 | doi-access = free}}</ref> are turned on at specific concentrations, thus validating Lewis Wolpert's Positional Information French flag model of embryonic pattern formation. In other work he shed light on the molecular basis of gastrulation, and especially the role of non-canonical Wnt signalling.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tada|first1=M.|last2=Smith|first2=J. C.|date=1 May 2000|title=Xwnt11 is a target of Xenopus Brachyury: regulation of gastrulation movements via Dishevelled, but not through the canonical Wnt pathway|journal=Development|volume=127|issue=10|pages=2227–2238|doi=10.1242/dev.127.10.2227 |issn=0950-1991|pmid=10769246}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Heisenberg|first1=Carl-Philipp|last2=Tada|first2=Masazumi|last3=Rauch|first3=Gerd-Jörg|last4=Saúde|first4=Leonor|last5=Concha|first5=Miguel L.|last6=Geisler|first6=Robert|last7=Stemple|first7=Derek L.|last8=Smith|first8=James C.|last9=Wilson|first9=Stephen W.|title=Silberblick/Wnt11 mediates convergent extension movements during zebrafish gastrulation|journal=Nature|volume=405|issue=6782|pages=76–81|doi=10.1038/35011068|pmid=10811221|year=2000|bibcode=2000Natur.405...76H |s2cid=4397286 }}</ref> His earlier work demonstrated threshold responses in chick limb development and also showed that the mitogenic response to growth factors can be active when attached to the extracellular matrix.<ref name=frs>{{cite web|author=Anon |year=2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117010823/https://royalsociety.org/people/jim-smith-12309/ |archive-date=2015-11-17 |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/jim-smith-12309/ |title=Dr Jim Smith FMedSci FRS |publisher=Royal Society |location=London }} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{quote|"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |access-date=2016-03-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |archive-date=2015-09-25 }}}}</ref>

==Awards and honours== Smith was elected as an EMBO Member in 1992,<ref>[https://people.embo.org/profile/james-c-smith EMBO Member Profiles, James C. Smith]</ref> a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1993<ref name=frs/><ref name=nimrhistblog /> and of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998. He was awarded the Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal in 1989,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.zsl.org/sites/default/files/media/2021-11/ZSL%20Scientific%20Medal%20Winners.pdf |title=ZSL Scientific Medal Winners |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221113750/https://www.zsl.org/sites/default/files/media/2021-11/ZSL%20Scientific%20Medal%20Winners.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> the Feldberg Foundation award in 2000, the William Bate Hardy Prize in 2001 and the Waddington Medal by the British Society for Developmental Biology in 2013.<ref name=wad>{{cite web|title=Jim Smith awarded the Waddington Medal|url=http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/news/jim-smith-awarded-the-waddington-medal/|website=MRC National Institute for Medical Research|access-date=2014-11-24|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141124184214/http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/news/jim-smith-awarded-the-waddington-medal/|archive-date=24 November 2014|df=dmy-all}} </ref> In 2014 he was named by the ''London Evening Standard'' as one of the 1000 most influential Londoners,<ref>{{cite web|title=The 1000 – London's most influential people 2014: Innovators|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/the1000/the-1000--londons-most-influential-people-2014-innovators-9778318.html|work=London Evening Standard|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618021837/http://www.standard.co.uk/news/the1000/the-1000--londons-most-influential-people-2014-innovators-9778318.html|archive-date=2015-06-18|author=Anon|year=2014}}</ref> in the 'Innovators' section. He was also awarded the EMBO Gold Medal in 1993.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=J. C.|date=1 December 1993|title=Mesoderm-inducing factors in early vertebrate development|journal=The EMBO Journal|volume=12|issue=12|pages=4463–4470|issn=0261-4189|pmc=413870|pmid=8223456|doi=10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb06135.x}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.embo.org/funding-awards/gold-medal|title=EMBO Gold Medal awards since 1986|work=EMBO|access-date=2017-05-03}}</ref>

Smith was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to medical research and science education.<ref name=sirjim>{{London Gazette|issue=61803|supp=y|page=N2|date=31 December 2016}}</ref>

==Personal life== Smith married Fiona Watt in 1979 and has three children.<ref name=whoswho/>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{FRS 1993}} {{Francis Crick Institute}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jim Cuthbert}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Category:Developmental biologists Category:English biologists Category:Knights Bachelor Category:People educated at Latymer Upper School Category:National Institute for Medical Research faculty Category:John Humphrey Plummer Professors Category:Presidents of the Zoological Society of London Category:Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Category:British fellows of the Royal Society