Martin Smith

Associate Professor Martin Smith is a computational biologist and Director of the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics at UNSW. Specializing in transcriptomics, RNA biology, and AI-driven genomic technologies, his research focuses on long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), RNA structure-function relationships, and nanopore sequencing applications in immunology, cancer, and neuroscience. He holds a PhD in genomics from the University of Queensland and has held roles at the Garvan Institute, Kinghorn Centre, and CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre. His work bridges basic science and clinical translation, with commercial ventures including two nanopore sequencing platforms and patents in genomic tools.

• Education: BSc in Microbiology/Immunology (Université de Montréal), MSc in Bioinformatics (Infectious Disease Research Centre), PhD in Genomics (UQ), Postdoc at Garvan Institute
• Research Interests: RNA biology, machine learning in genomics, nanopore sequencing, clinical genomics applications
• Affiliations: Director, Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics; Adjunct Professor at Université de Montréal

His lab develops tools like ECSfinder for RNA structure prediction and Assembly Arena for isoform reconstruction. He advocates for real-time genomic epidemiology and has contributed to SARS-CoV-2 studies during the pandemic.

Key labs/teams: The Smith Laboratory (UNSW), collaborations with clinical and industry partners.