Gwyn Williams

Biography

I am originally from Ebbw Vale in South Wales (apparently it still shows in the way I say “molecular”). My first degree was in Biochemistry at Warwick University, graduating in 1975, and my D.Phil. was in Cell and Molecular Biology at Sussex University, graduating in 1979. After carrying out post-doctoral research at St. George’s Hospital Medical School in London, I worked as Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in Birmingham University from 1983 to 1993. I was appointed Professor of Biochemistry at Keele in 1993.

Research and scholarship

ISTM Research theme:

My research interests are in molecular cell biology, i.e. in analysis of the way that cells, mammalian and human cells in particular, function and are controlled. My research is focused on the molecular control of apoptosis (programmed cell death), which is a key process in the normal physiology of the human body, especially during embryonic development and in the immune system. Mutations in apoptosis-controlling genes underlie many forms of cancer as well as autoimmune and degenerative diseases. Our long-term strategy has been to identify new apoptosis-controlling genes directly through their effects on cell survival. We have identified several new genes regulating apoptosis and are now investigating their mechanisms of action and evaluating their importance in diseases where apoptosis is either insufficient or excessive. We are looking at how the levels of expression of these genes are changed in cancer in order to find out how important they are in cancer development and in the development of drug-resistance. I am part of the Apoptosis Research Group within the Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine (ISTM).