Derek George Smyth
{{Short description|British biochemist (1927–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Derek Smyth
| image =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1927|4|24}}
| birth_place = Kingston Upon Thames, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2024|10|28|1927|4|24}}
| death_place = Enfield, England
| nationality = British
| residence =
| field = Biochemistry
| work_institutions = Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital, Yale School of Medicine, Rockefeller University, National Institute for Medical Research Battersea Polytechnic, University of London
| alma_mater =
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| prizes =
}}
Derek George Smyth, {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSC}} (24 April 1927 – 28 October 2024) was a British biochemist who specialised in peptide structure and function. In 2002, he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.{{Cite news|date=2002-02-14|title=Announcement|pages=40|work=The Times|issn=0140-0460|id=ProQuest document ID 318606918}}
Life and career
Smyth started working at the National Institute for Medical Research in 1963.{{cn|date=May 2023}} He was Head of the Laboratory of Peptide Chemistry in Mill Hill, London from 1972 to 1992. He had worked previously with Professor Joseph Fruton, Head of the Biochemistry Department at Yale University, where he gained experience in protein and peptide chemistry and in 1960 transferred to Rockefeller University in New York City where, in the laboratory of Stanford Moore and William Howard Stein, he reinvestigated and established the amino acid sequence of pancreatic ribonuclease.{{Cite book|last1=Loewy|first1=Ariel G.|url=https://archive.org/details/cellstructurefun00arie/page/169/mode/1up|title=Cell Structure and Function: An Integrated Approach|last2=Siekevitz|first2=Philip|date=1991|publisher=Saunders|location=Philadelphia|pages=169|isbn=9780030474392|language=en|oclc=1148218832|author-link=Ariel G. Loewy|author-link2=Philip Siekevitz|url-access=registration}}{{Cite book|last1=White|first1=Abraham|url=https://archive.org/details/principlesofbioc00whit/page/257/mode/1up|title=Principles of Biochemistry|last2=Handler|first2=Philip|last3=Smith|first3=Emil L|date=1973|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=New York|pages=257|isbn=9780070697584|language=en|oclc=1151061019|author-link2=Philip Handler|author-link3=Emil L. Smith|url-access=registration}}
His major contribution came from studies of β-lipotropin, now recognised as a component of the pro-opiomelanocortin locus.{{Cite book|last=Davis|first=Joel|url=https://archive.org/details/endorphins00davi/page/44/mode/2up|title=Endorphins: New Waves in Brain Chemistry|date=1984|publisher=Dial Press|location=Garden City, New York|pages=44–45|isbn=9780385278560|language=en|oclc=1033595208|url-access=registration}}{{Cite news|last=Hawkes|first=Nigel|date=1978-10-07|title=Opening the doors of the brain|pages=2|work=South China Morning Post|issn=1021-6731|id=ProQuest document ID|quote=… Dr Derek Smyth and his team at the National Institute for Medical Research … isolated a … substance, which they called the C-Fragment of lipotropin. … The most significant of the endorphins seems likely to be the C-Fragment. A much more potent analgesic than any of the other endorphins … it is also much longer-lived in the brain. This led Dr Smyth to suggest that one function of the C-Fragment might be in the long-term control of pain …}}
After retiring from NIMR, Smyth continued his research at the Institute for Molecular Biology in Salzburg, in the Pharmacology Department of the University of Murcia and in the William Harvey Research Institute, University of London. For a number of years (1977-1982) he was invited formally to assist the Nobel Committee in their nomination of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}} and in 1997 he was elected as an honorary member (Excmo) of the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery in Murcia.{{cn|date=May 2023}}
Smyth died on 28 October 2024, at the age of 97.{{cite web |title=Mr Derek George Smyth |url=https://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/funeral-notices/28-10-2024-derek-george-smyth/ |website=Dignity Funeral Directors |access-date=14 November 2024}}
References
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Category:People from Kingston upon Thames