Prof. Smith has been engaged in research on genetic changes in SARS-COV-2 and their potential implications for the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Together with collaborators, Prof. Smith discovered SARS-CoV-2 strains with a major deletion in the genome that is associated with a milder infection and may have implications for the development of treatments and vaccines.

Ongoing work includes investigating the intra-host genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 to identify mutations that may be indicative of host adaptation, emerging drug resistance or vaccine escape.