biology

Mark A. Smith

Mark A. Smith is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mark A. Smith rather than just read about it. In short: Mark Anthony Smith (August 15, 1965 – December 19, 2010) was a professor of pathology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he also served as the director of basic science research at the University Memory and Aging Center. At the time of his death, he had been serving as executive director of the American Aging Association.

Key takeaways

Mark A. Smith belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mark A. Smith to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mark A. Smith from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mark Anthony Smith (August 15, 1965 – December 19, 2010) was a professor of pathology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he also served as the director of basic science research at the University Memory and Aging Center. At the time of his death, he had been serving as executive director of the American Aging Association. Smith served as editor-in-chief of Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and also sat on the editorial board of over 20 leading journals including Science Translational Medicine, Discovery Medicine, Journal of Neurochemistry, Journal of Pathology and The American Journal of Pathology. He is recognized in the field of Alzheimer's disease research particularly for his work on oxidative stress, mitochondria dysfunction and cell cycle re-entry and, with a h-index of 73 and over 800 peer-reviewed articles and reviews that have received over 21,000 citations, he was named as one of the top Alzheimer's disease researchers in the world, one of the top 100 most-cited scientists in Neuroscience & Behavior and one of the top 25 scientists in free radical research. His many honors included the Jordi Folch-Pi Award from the American Society for Neurochemistry, the ASIP Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology and being elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, a Fellow of the American Aging Association, and a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest scientific organization. He had been awarded the Goudie Lecture & Medal of the Pathological Society but died before he could deliver the lecture.

Biography Mark A. Smith, son of John Smith (born 1936; underground coal miner Longwall mining) and Rita Joyce Smith (1935–2004; housewife), grew up in Wigston Magna, Leicester, where he attended Bushloe High School. After receiving a full scholarship (grant), he became the first in his family to attend university/college and, in 1986, received a B.Sc. with honors in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry from Durham University, and, in 1990, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Nottingham. After a brief immersion in the pharmaceutical industry as a postdoctoral biochemist in the Division of Immunodermatology at Sandoz Forschungsinstitut (now Novartis) in Vienna, Austria, he began working in 1992 at Case Western Reserve University where he was one of the most prolific and the most cited faculty member on campus, numerically accounting for over 1% of publications and 4% of citations over the past years (data from Institute for Scientific Information). Smith was struck by a motorist and killed on December 19, 2010.

Research The focus of the research undertaken by Smith's research involves investigating the pathological mechanism(s) underlying selective neuronal death in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Further this research involves a variety of techniques including histology, state of the art molecular and cell biology and cellular and animal models of disease that are directed toward diagnostic, mechanistic, and therapeutic strategies. Current projects are directed towards 1) fundamental metabolic alterations; 2) homeostatic dysregulation of transition metals; 3) signal transduction alterations; and 4) inappropriate re-entry into the cell cycle. Smith collaborated with and co-authored works with, amongst others, Drs. Rudolph J. Castellani Jr. and George Perry.

Community service Smith served on the professional advisory board of the Cleveland chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and was team captain of a group of local researchers ("A Cure From Cleveland") that participates in the annual fund raising Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association. In addition, Smith donated his time as a frequent guest speaker at local caregiver groups and at a variety of community events.

References

External links Alzheimer Research Forum Profile Case Western Reserve University Faculty bio Discovery Medicine In Memory: Mark A. Smith Researcher ID

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mark A. Smith

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mark A. Smith claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mark A. Smith before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mark A. Smith ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mark A. Smith

In research: Mark A. Smith appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mark A. Smith in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mark A. Smith is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1965 births, 2010 deaths, Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mark A. Smith outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mark A. Smith in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mark A. Smith means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mark A. Smith out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mark A. Smith in simple terms?

Why does Mark A. Smith matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mark A. Smith?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mark A. Smith.