Professor Bradley D. Smith was recently named a Fellow of the Royal Society Chemistry (FRSC). The Royal Society of Chemistry is worldwide organization for the advancement of chemical science, and Fellows are a select group recognized for their outstanding contributions that promote such advancement. He is now the fifth member of the University of Notre Dame, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry to become an RSC Fellow.
Professor Smith is recognized as a leader in the field of supramolecular chemistry applied to biological systems. He designs, synthesizes, and studies small organic molecules that selectively target cell surfaces and he has created molecular imaging probes for detecting cancer, cell death, and microbial infections in living animals. Many of these molecular imaging probes are commercially available for preclinical research applications. Professor Smith has also invented a novel family of high performance fluorescent and chemiluminescent dyes called squaraine rotaxanes and converted them into imaging probes for a wide range of potential applications in biomedical science, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
Professor Smith is founding Director of the Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility, a state-of-the-art research resource that provides an integrated suite of sophisticated microscopes and imaging stations for Notre Dame science and engineering researchers.
Professor Smith grew up in rural Australia and earned a B. S. degree (1st class honors) from the University of Melbourne before heading overseas for doctoral studies at the Pennsylvania State University (Ph. D. in 1988). He conducted postdoctoral research at Oxford University, UK and then at Columbia University before joining the faculty at Notre Dame as an Assistant Professor in 1991. He progressed through the ranks and was appointed Emil T. Hofman Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2008.