
Dr Scott Smid
Senior Lecturer
School of Biomedicine
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
Dr Scott Smid is a pharmacologist specializing in drug discovery and development research both in industry and academia. He maintains a strong research interest in experimental therapeutics applied towards novel treatments for gastrointestinal and neurodegenerative diseases. This includes investigating the biological actions of phytocannabinoids, synthetic cannabinoids and endocannabinoids in areas as diverse as gut function, inflammation and neurodegeneration. Current interests include novel ligand development for binding and inhibiting pathological aggregating proteins such as beta-amyloid and alpha-synuclein, which are associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
- My Research
- Career
- Publications
- Grants and Funding
- Teaching
- Supervision
- Professional Activities
- Contact
Current projects for Masters, M.Phil or PhD candidates include:
1. Identifying novel cannabis phytochemicals with neuroprotective properties. This includes using neural stem cells and other neuronal cell populations to model neurotoxicity to dementia associated misfolding proteins such as amyloid beta and alpha-synuclein, related to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. We recently identified a novel cannabis flavonoid with neuroprotective activity that could be used as a nutritional or nutraceutical supplement in ageing. We have also identified select terpenes found in cannabis that also share these neuroportective properties.
2. Understanding cannabis-herb and cannabis-drug interactions. This is a molecular toxicology project aimed at understanding how cannabis and its components can influence metabolic pathways that may affect conventional medications or complementary medicines. With increasing medicinal cannabis use in Australia this has implications for dosing and individualised medicine.
3. Identifying novel cannabis phytochemicals with antibiotic properties. The non-psychotropic component of cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD) has recently been identified as having potential antibiotic properties. Derivatives of CBD and other novel phytocannabinoids may be obtained to test this in a collaboration with Dr Katharina Richter at BHI with scholarships available. See https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/katharina.richter for more information.
4. Identifying and characterising novel marine-derived polyphenols with gastro- and neuro-protective properties. This is a collaboration with the Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development at Flinders University. For example, we have identified phlorotannins from brown macroalgae (seaweed) found along coastal regions in South Australia that have neuroprotective and mucoprotective bioactivity.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2015 - ongoing Visiting Fellow University of Western Australia, Perth 2012 - ongoing Deputy Head University of Adelaide, Adelaide 2006 - ongoing Senior Lecturer University of Adelaide, Adelaide -
Awards and Achievements
Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount 2012 Award Faculty International Conference Award (FICA) - - - -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 1991 - 1994 University of Adelaide, Adelaide Australia Doctor of Philosophy 1990 University of Adelaide, Adelaide Australia Honours Degree of Bachelor of Science (Class 1 Honours) 1979 - 1989 University of Adelaide, Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science -
Research Interests
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Journals
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Book Chapters
Year Citation 2023 Laws III, J. S., Shrestha, S., & Smid, S. D. (2023). Cannabis terpenes as neuroprotective agents: A focus on α-bisabolol. In V. R. Preedy, V. B. Patel, & C. R. Martin (Eds.), Medicinal Usage of Cannabis and Cannabinoids (pp. 207-215). Elsevier.
2014 Das, S., & Smid, S. (2014). The Antiaggregative, Antiamyloid Properties of Bioactive Polyphenols in the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. In R. Watson (Ed.), Bioactive Nutraceuticals and Dietary Supplements in Neurological and Brain Disease: Prevention and Therapy (pp. 73-76). United Kingdom: Academic Press.
Scopus22013 Smid, S., & Musgrave, I. (2013). Dietary polyphenols as inhibitors of Β-amyloid-evoked neurotoxicity: implications for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. In J. Sun, K. Prasad, A. Ismail, B. Yang, X. You, & L. Li (Eds.), Polyphenols: Chemistry, Dietary Sources and Health Benefits (1 ed., pp. 521-538). United States: Nova Science Publishers. 2009 Smid, S. (2009). Neuronal mechanosensitivity in the gastrointestinal tract. In A. Kamkin, I. Kiseleva, N. Tavernarakis, & P. Persson (Eds.), Mechanosensitivity of the nervous system (pp. 87-106). Russia: Springer.
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Conference Papers
Year Citation 2023 Smid, S., Shrestha, S., Choi, J. -S., & Zhang, W. (2023). Innate immunomodulatory actions of macroalgal phlorotannins: In vitro modulation of intestinal barrier function and epithelial ACE-2 expression. In BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY Vol. 180 (pp. 818-819). WILEY. 2015 Smid, S., Das, S., Musgrave, I., & Pukala, T. (2015). Bioactive polyphenol interactions with β amyloid: a comparison of binding, fibril inhibition and neuroprotection. In JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY Vol. 134 (pp. 363-364). Cairns, AUSTRALIA: WILEY-BLACKWELL. -
Conference Items
Grants and Funding
Research Support and Scholarship
2022 | Principal Investigator. Marine-derived bioactives and nutraceuticals: Sustainable use of marine products for health and wellbeing. AC21 Special Project Funding | $USD 15,000 |
2021 | Co-Investigator. Exploring the use of personalised CBD/THC dosing to prevent common and impactful symptoms of treatment in advanced cancer. The CANnabinoids for CANcer Therapy (CANCAN) Clinical Trial: Medical Research Futures Fund, Department of Health, Australian Goverment. | $AUD $1.5M |
2019 |
Principal Investigator. Australia Japan Foundation Award, Dept Foreign Affairs and Trade. Enabling technologies in Personalised and Precision Medicine. |
$AUD 38,600 |
2018 | JSPS Invitational Fellowship, Nagoya University. Development of Super-efficient Screening Technologies for Neural Cell Regulatory Products. |
¥JPY 342,000 |
2018 | Principal Investigator. Faculty Research Infrastructure Award. The University of Adelaide. | AUD $17,000 |
2017-18 | Principal Investigator. Faculty Research Development Award (with Prof Kato, Nagoya University and Dr Ian Musgrave). Novel neuroprotective agents targeting beta amyloid. The University of Adelaide. | AUD $15,500 |
2013-15 | Co-Investigator (with Ian Musgrave, Louise O’Keefe and Tara Pukala). 'Structure function relationships of anti-amyloid drugs: verification in an in-vivo model.' lnterdisciplinary Research Fund Grant, The University of Adelaide. | AUD $21,000 |
2011-13 | Principal Investigator. (Associate Investigator: Dr Rachel Gibson). Validation of an ex vivo human colonic mucosal explant colitis model. MAWA Trust Research Grant. | AUD $28,122 |
2010-12 | Principal Investigator Broad Medical Research Program, United States (IBD-0268R). Functional Expression of the Endocannabinoid System in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. | USD $130,000 |
Teaching and Course Coordination
2006-present | The University of Adelaide: Course Coordinator - PHARM 3102 Drug Discovery & Development; HLTH SC 2100 Fundamentals of Human Nutrition. Courses taught: Pharmacology 2100/2200 (Level 2 B.Hlth.Sci, B. Pharm. Eng.). Pharmacology for Nursing (Level 1&2, Bachelor of Nursing). PHARM 3101, 3102, 3103, HLTH SC 2100, 2103, 2104, 3100. Higher Degree by Research: Discipline Coordinator |
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2022 Co-Supervisor Diagnosis and therapeutics of intrinsically disordered protein misfolding disorders Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Zohaib Raza 2022 Principal Supervisor The bioprotective properties of cannabis phytochemicals on mammalian cells Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Luke Thomas Wooley 2022 Principal Supervisor Neuroprotective characterisations of cannabis phytochemicals Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr John Laws III -
Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2019 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Characterising the Protective Bioactivity of Macroalgal Polyphenols Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Srijan Shrestha 2017 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Exploring the Bioactivity and Therapeutic Potential of Structurally Diverse Phytochemicals in Neurodegenerative and Gastrointestinal Disease Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Dylan Thomas Marsh 2016 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Visualising Intestinal Inflammation and Fibrosis using Zirconium-89 Labelled Antibodies in a Preclinical Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Nicole Dmochowska 2015 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Small molecular inhibitors of Amyloid beta and alpha Synuclein amyloidogenic aggregation, toxicity and in silico design of amyloid-binding ligands Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Sukanya Das 2010 - 2014 Principal Supervisor The Effect of Cannabinoids on Cytokine Evoked Human Colonic Mucosal Damage and Caco-2 Epithelial Permeability Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Benjamin Harvey
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Board Memberships
Date Role Board name Institution name Country 2015 - ongoing Advisory Board Member Scientific Advisory Board LeafCann Pty Ltd Australia -
Committee Memberships
Date Role Committee Institution Country 2009 - ongoing Member Scientific Organising Committee, Annual National Symposia: Urogenital and Gastrointestinal Research - - -
Memberships
Date Role Membership Country 2017 - ongoing Member Australia New Zealand Marine Biotechnology Society Australia 2016 - ongoing Member International Cannabinoid Research Society - 2014 - ongoing Member International Society for Neurochemistry - 2014 - ongoing - International Society for Neurochemistry - 2006 - ongoing - International Cannabinoid Research Society - 1991 - ongoing Member Australasian Society for Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology - 1991 - ongoing - Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology (ASCEPT). - -
Consulting/Advisories
Date Institution Department Organisation Type Country 2015 - ongoing LeafCann Australia Pty Ltd - - - -
Editorial Boards
Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country 2013 - ongoing Board Member Clinical and Experimental Physiology and Pharmacology Journal - - 2012 - ongoing Editor CEPP journal - - -
Industry Partnerships
Date Engagement Type Partner Name 2016 - ongoing Consultant CSIRO Materials Division
Connect With Me
External Profiles