David M. Smith studied physics and philosophy as a bachelor student at the University of Texas at Austin and conducted both his master's and doctoral studies at the University of Leipzig, Germany, graduating in 2010. Following postdoctoral research at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, he founded the “DNA Nanodevices” group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI) in Leipzig in 2013. His research focuses on applying approaches from DNA nanotechnology to diagnostics, virology, and biological/polymer physics.