BSc (Hons) with First Class Honors, 1995-1998, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK Ph.D, 1998-2002 – University of Leeds, UK, School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Advisor: Dr Alan Berry Postdoctoral, 2002-2005 – University of Leeds, UK, Dept of Chemistry/ School of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Advisors: Prof Adam Nelson and Dr Alan Berry Postdoctoral, 2005-2009 — University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Pharmacy Advisor: Prof Jon Thorson

Bio-Organic Chemistry

The Williams Lab uses a synthetic biology philosophy to reprogram the chemistry of life. One major area of focus is the creation of artificial cell factories for the synthesis of non-natural drug-like molecules. We are also interested in using the power of organic chemistry to probe, interrogate, and manipulate biological processes.

Ye Z, Williams GJ. "Mapping a ketosynthase:acyl carrier protein binding interface via unnatural amino acid-mediated photocrosslinking". Biochemistry, in press. Randall S, Koryakina I, Williams GJ, Muddiman DC. "Evaluating nonpolar surface area and LC-MS response: an application for site occupancy measurements for enzyme intermediates in polyketide biosynthesis", Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom, 2014, 28, 2511. Walsh S, Gardner L, Deiters A, Williams GJ. "Intracellular light-activation of riboswitch activity". ChemBioChem, 2014, 15, 1346. Ye Z, Musiol EM, Weber T, Williams GJ. "Reprogramming acyl carrier protein interactions of an extender unit promiscuous trans-acyltransferase". Chem Biol, 2014, 21, 636. Williams GJ. "Engineering polyketide synthases and non-ribosomal peptide synthetases". Curr Opin Struct Biol, 2013, 23, 603. Koryakina I, McArthur JB, Draelos, M, Randall S, Muddiman D, Williams GJ. "Reprogramming the biosynthesis of natural products by directed evolution". Developments in Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, 2013, 9, 147-63. Koryakina I, McArthur JB, Draelos MD, Williams GJ. "Promiscuity of a Modular Polyketide Synthase Towards Natural and Non-Natural Extender Units". Org Biomol Chem, 2013, 11, 4449-4458. Koryakina I, McArthur J, Randall S, Draelos MM, Musiol EM, Muddiman DC, Weber T, Williams GJ. "Poly specific trans-acyltransferase machinery revealed via engineered acyl-CoA synthetases". ACS Chem Biol, 2013; 8, 200-208. McArthur J, & Williams GJ. "Engineering Glycosyltransferases". In The Protein Engineering Handbook, Ed. Stefan Lutz, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2012, Vol 3, 303-326. Ye Z, Desai H, Bair M, Williams GJ. "A novel photocrosslinking assay for reporting protein interactions in polyketide and fatty acid synthases". Mol BioSys, 2011, 7, 3152-3156. Koryakina I, Williams GJ. "Mutant malonyl-CoA synthetases for polyketide extender unit generation". ChemBioChem, 2011, 12, 2289-2293. Parajuli N, Williams GJ. "A high-throughput screen for directed evolution of aminocoumarin amide synthetases". Anal Biochem, 2011; 419: 61-66. Koryakina I, Neville J, Nonaka K, van Lanen S, Williams GJ. "A high-throughput screen for directed evolution of the natural product sulfotransferase LipB". J Biomol Screening, 2011; 16: 845-851. Williams GJ, Yang J, Zhang C, Thorson JS. "Recombinant E. coli prototype strains for in vivo glycorandomization". ACS Chem Biol, 2011, 6, 95-100. Williams GJ, Gantt RW, Thorson JS. (2008) "The impact of enzyme engineering upon natural product glycodiversification". Curr Opin Chem Biol, 12, 556-564. Gantt RW, Goff RD, Williams GJ, Thorson JS. "Probing the aglycone promiscuity of an engineered glycosyltransferase". Angew Chemie Int Ed, 2008, 47, 8889-8892. Williams GJ, Zhang C, Goff R, Thorson JS. "Optimization of a natural product glycosyltransferase for glycorandomization of novobiocin". Chem Biol, 2008, 15, 393-401. Williams GJ, Thorson JS. "A high-throughput fluorescence-based glycosyltransferase screen and its application in directed evolution". Nat Protocols, 2008, 3, 357-362. Williams GJ, Zhang C, Thorson JS. "Expanding the promiscuity of a natural product glycosyltransferase by directed evolution". Nat Chem Biol, 2007, 3, 657-662. Williams GJ, Woodall T, Farnsworth LM, Nelson A, Berry A. "Creation of a pair of stereochemically complementary biocatalysts". J Am Chem Soc, 2006, 128, 16238-47. Williams GJ, Woodhall T, Nelson A, Berry A. "Structure-guided saturation mutagenesis of N-acetylneuraminic acid lyase for the synthesis of sialic acid mimetics". PEDS 2005; 18: 239-246. Woodhall T, Williams GJ, Berry A, Nelson A. "Synthesis of screening substrates for the directed evolution of sialic acid aldolase: Towards tailored enzymes for the preparation of influenza A inhibitor analogues". Org Biomol Chem, 2005; 3: 1795-1800. Woodhall T, Williams GJ, Berry A, Nelson A. "Creation of a tailored aldolase for the parallel synthesis of sialic acid mimetics". Angew Chemie Int Ed, 2005; 44: 2109-2112. Williams GJ, Nelson A, Berry A. "Directed evolution of enzymes for biocatalysis and the life sciences". Cell Mol Life Sci, 2004; 61: 3034-3046.

Williams GJ, Doman S, Nelson A, Berry A. "Modifying the stereochemical course of an enzyme catalysed reaction by directed evolution". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2003, 100, 3143-3148.