Temple Smith is Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Research Professor of Pharmacology, and Director of the Biomolecular Engineering Research Center at Boston University.
One of the founders of the field of bioinformatics, his research interests encompass the semantic and syntactic structure of genetic information in biomolecular sequences, structures, and evolution. Thus, his research bridges between the information in genome and protein sequence and the structure and function of proteins and other biomolecules. He is also involved in the development of database structures that can facilitate the analysis and sequencing of genomes.
In his research, Professor Smith has utilized the latest technologies of computer science and mathematical methods to develop new pattern recognition strategies and protein structure predicting tools.
The Smith-Waterman algorithm for DNA or protein sequence matching, is used widely to find sequence matches to trace evolutionary development and functional relationships between biomolecules. This and other statistical/computational approaches developed by Prof. Smith are used to identify structure, function, and regulation in biomolecules. This identification has led to the formulation and testing of major hypotheses in the areas of molecular evolution, gene regulation, developmental genetics, and protein structure-function relationships. Among his specific accomplishments is the identification of an anti-oncogen Rb binding site.
