AUSTIN SMITH DID his Ph.D. with Martin Hooper at the University of Edinburgh from 1982 to 1986. He then perused post doctoral research at the University of Oxford with John Heath before returning to the University of Edinburgh in 1990 as a Group Leader at the Centre for Genome Research. In 1996, he was appointed Director of the Centre. Dr. Smith built a strong team of scientists working towards understanding how stem cells self renew. With remarkable focus and clarity, Dr. Smith developed the first Institute for Stem Cell Research in the United Kingdom. Dr. Smith was awarded a Medical Research Council Research Professorship in 2003.

In 2006 he moved to Cambridge University where he is currently Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell ...