Shanghai Institute of Material Medical Chinese Academy of Sciences

Biography

Geoffrey L. SMITH obtained his PhD (1981) for work with influenza virus in Alan HAY’s laboratory at the National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK. Then as a postdoc in Bernard MOSS’s laboratory at the National Institutes of Health, USA (1981-84), together with Michael MACKETT, he developed vaccinia virus (the smallpox vaccine) as an expression vector and established the principle of using genetically engineered viruses as live vaccines; a principle applied subsequently to many other viruses and microorganisms. He continued studying poxviruses after returning to UK at Cambridge (1985-9), Oxford (1989-2000), Imperial College London (2000-11), Cambridge (2011-22) and again at Oxford from 2023. In 2025 he moved to China and is Chief Scientist of a Vaccine Research Centre at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research studies the interactions of poxviruses with the host cell and immune system.

He has had several roles promoting microbiology and advising on science policy. These include being Chairman of the WHO Advisory Committee for Variola Virus (smallpox) Research, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for Structural and Systems Biology Hamburg, Germany, a member of the University Research Grants Council Hong Kong, President of the International Union of Microbiological Societies, Chairman of the UK Royal Society Committee for Scientific Aspects of International Security, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute (German Ministry for Food and Agriculture), a member of the UK Royal Society Science Policy Advisory Group, a Governor of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine (UK) and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Pirbright Institute (UK). He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK, 2002), the Institute of Biology (UK, 2002), the Royal Society (UK, 2003), a Founding Member of the European Academy of Microbiology (2008) and a member of Leopoldina - the German National Academy of Sciences (2011). In 2005 he was awarded the Feldberg Foundation Prize in Medical and Biological Science, in 2012 the GlaxoSmithKline / American Society for Microbiology International Member of the Year Award and in 2016 the Loeffler-Lecture, which is a honorary lecture jointly organized by the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut and the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg (scientific college) in Greifswald, Germany. He is the recipient of the Marjory Stephenson Prize Lecture from the Microbiology Society (UK) in 2018 and the Leeuwenhoek Medal and Prize Lecture from the UK Royal Society 2019.

Education：

1974-1977 ，B.Sc. (hons) 2.1 Microbiology / Biochemistry. University of Leeds, UK.

1977-1980，Ph.D. "Replication of the Influenza Virus Genome". National Institute for Medical Research, London. Awarded March 1981 by the Council for National Academic Awards. Supervisor: Dr Alan J. HAY.

Research Directions

1. Interactions between poxviruses and the host cell and immune system

2. Vaccine development

Grants & Research Projects

Achievements

1.Academician, Royal Society UK

2.Academician, Leopoldina, Germany

3. President, International Union of Microbiological Societies

morefold

Social Titles

morefold

Awards & Honors

1988 Jenner Fellow of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.

1992 Almroth Wright Lecturer (St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School).

1992 Fleming Award from the Society for General Microbiology.

1996 Edward Jenner Memorial Lecture, Xth International Congress of Virology, Jerusalem, Israel.

1998 Bob Honess Memorial Lecture, NIMR, London, UK.

2000 Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, UK

2000 Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK

2003-7 Editor-in-Chief, Journal of General Virology

2003 Fellow of the Royal Society, UK

2004-20 Chairman, WHO Advisory Committee for Variola Virus (smallpox) Research

2005 Wilhelm Feldberg Foundation Prize (Anglo-German Friendship in Biological & Medical Science)

2008 Kerr Memorial Prize Lecture, University of Edinburgh, UK

2008 Teaching Excellence Award, Imperial College London, UK

2009 Founding Member of European Academy of Microbiologists (EAM)

2009-12 Chair, Royal Society Committee for Scientific Aspects of International Security, UK

2010 Corresponding Member of the Gesellschaft für Virologie (GfV)

2011 Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina)

2011-4 President, International Union of Microbiological Societies

2012 American Society for Microbiology: GlaxoSmithKline, International Member of the Year Award

2012 E.S. and R Duthie Memorial Lecture, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

2015-9 Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board, Friedrich-Loeffler Institute, Germany

2015-21 Member, Research Grants Council, Hong Kong, P.R. China

2016 Loeffler Lecture, Griefswald, Germany

2018 Marjory Stephenson Prize Lecture: the Microbiology Society, UK.

2019-23 Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board, Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB), Hamburg, Germany

2020 Leeuwenhoek Medal and Lecture, the Royal Society, UK.

2024- Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board, the Pirbright Institute, Surrey, UK

2025- Chief Scientist, Vaccine Research Centre, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China

morefold

Pubilcations

Selected Publications

1.Smith, G.L., Mackett, M. & Moss, B. (1983). Infectious vaccinia virus recombinants express hepatitis B virus surface antigen. Nature 302, 490-5. PMID 6835382

2.Smith, G.L., Godson, N.G., Nussenzweig, V., Nussenzweig, R.S., Barnwell, J. & Moss, B. (1984). Plasmodium knowlesi sporozoite antigen: expression by infectious recombinant vaccinia virus. Science 224, 397-9. PMID 6200932

3.Moss, B., Smith, G.L., Gerin, J.L. & Purcell, R.H. (1984). Live recombinant vaccinia virus protects chimpanzees against hepatitis B. Nature 311, 67-9. 6472464

4.Bennink, J.R., Yewdell, J.W., Smith, G.L., Moller, C. & Moss, B. (1984). Recombinant vaccinia virus primes and stimulates influenza haemagglutinin-specific cytotoxic T cells. Nature 311, 578-9. PMID 6332992

5.Alcamí, A. & Smith, G.L. (1992). A soluble receptor for interleukin-1 encoded by vaccinia virus: a novel mechanism of virus modulation of the host response to infection. Cell 71, 153-67. PMID 1394428

6.Symons, J.A., Alcamí, A. & Smith, G.L. (1995). Vaccinia virus encodes a type I interferon receptor of novel structure and broad species specificity. Cell 81, 551-60. PMID 7758109

7.Doceul, V., Hollinshead, M., van der Linden, L. & Smith, G.L. (2010). Repulsion of superinfecting virions: a mechanism for rapid virus spread. Science, 327, 873-7. PMID 20093437

8.Lu, Y., Stuart, J.H., Talbot-Cooper, C., Agrawal-Singh, SA., Huntly, B., Smid, A.I., Snowden, J.S., Dupont, L., & Smith, G.L. (2019) Histone deacetylase 4 promotes type I interferon signalling, restricts DNA viruses, and is degraded by vaccinia virus protein C6. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116, 11997-12006. PMID 31127039

9.Albarnaz, J.D., Ren, H., Torres, A.A., Shmeleva, E.V., de Melo, C.M.A.G., Bannister, A.J. & Smith, G.L. (2022). Molecular mimicry of NF-kappaB by vaccinia virus protein enables selective inhibition of antiviral responses. Nature Microbiol. 7, 154-68. PMID 34949827

10.Zhao, Y., Lu, Y., Richardson, S., Sreekumar, M., Albarnaz, J.D. & Smith, G.L. (2023). TRIM5α restricts poxviruses and is antagonized by CypA and the viral protein C6. Nature, 620, 873–880. PMID 37558876

morefold