InnovATEBIO Chief Software Architect and Data Scientist
Chief Technology Officer, Digital World Biology
Todd M. Smith PhD is a successful entrepreneur. He received his BS degrees in Genetics and Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota; after which he worked in the Seattle Biotechnology industry for nearly five years. Dr. Smith then continued his education to earn his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Washington. After receiving his PhD, he developed bioinformatics software in Leroy Hood’s laboratory as his team sequenced the BRCA1 gene in collaboration with Mary Claire-King. In 1997 he co-founded the bioinformatics software company Geospiza and led the commercial development of laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and high throughput data analysis systems for all forms of DNA sequencing and microarray technologies. The company’s free Sanger electropherogram trace viewer, FinchTV, became a standard tool that is still widely used.
PerkinElmer acquired Geospiza in 2011, and in 2013 Dr. Smith joined Digital World Biology to lead business development and provide business and bioinformatics consulting services. Through Digital World Biology, Dr. Smith participates in Bio-Link where he advises on industry trends and develops the websites (Bio-Link.org, Biotech-Careers.org, and others) that link industry with educators, students, and job seekers. Most recently, Dr. Smith has been working to help design a course on immuno-bioinformatics as part of an ATE funded project at Shoreline Community College.
Dr. Smith also serves as an entrepreneur mentor for the University of Washington’s CoMotion business incubator. In that role, he participates in startup workshops and works with emerging biotechnology businesses to perform market assessments for technologies in genomics and bioinformatics. Dr. Smith currently serves on advisory boards at Phase Genomics (business advisor) and Stratos Genomics (scientific advisor).