David L. Williams                      

Professor

Illinois State University

Contact Information:

Research Interests:

Parasites pose major health and veterinary problems throughout the world. By studying fundamental aspects of parasite biology, we hope to find means to control parasitic diseases, for example vaccine antigens or novel targets for chemotherapy development. Schistosomiasis is an important and widespread human pathogen caused by the trematode parasite Schistosoma mansoni. We use molecular, biochemical, and immunological tools to define key aspects of the schistosome-host interaction.

Education/Training

1976-1980    Cornell University, B.S., Biochemistry

1980-1983    Peace Corps Volunteer Chemistry Teacher, Aburi Girls' Secondary School, Aburi Ghana

1983-1990    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D., Biochemistry

1990-1992    Center for Parasite Biology and Immunology, Fogarty Post Doctoral Fellow, Institute Pasteur de Lille, France

1992-1995    Dept. of Entomology, NYSAES, Cornell University

Current Laboratory Members

Ahmed A. Sayed, PhD

Cynthia L. Cass, PhD

Seungho  Kang, MS

Debalina Ray, MS

Peter D. Ziniel, BS

Elsa Krishnaswamy, BS

Andrew Hranka

Alexander Czarnocki

Srivathsan Vijayaraghavan

Recent publications

Simeonov, A., Jadhav, A., Sayed, A.A., Wang, Y., Nelson, M.E., Thomas, C.J., Inglese, J., Williams, D.L., Austin, C.P. (2008) Quantitative high-throughput screen identifies inhibitors of the Schistosoma mansoni redox cascade. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2(1): e127. qHTS

Williams, D.L., Sayed, A.A., Bernier, J., Birkeland, S.R., Cipriano, M.J., Papa, A.R., McArthur, A.G., Taft, A., Vermeire, J.J., Yoshino, T.P. (2007) Profiling Schistosoma mansoni development using Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE). Experimental Parasitology 117, 246–258. Schisto SAGE

Cass, C.L., Johnson, J.R., Califf, L.L., Xu, T., Hernandez, H.J., Stadecker, M.J., Yates, J.R., III, Williams, D.L. (2007) Proteomic analysis of Schistosoma mansoni egg secretions. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 155, 84-93. Cass et al.

Kuntz, A.N., Davioud-Charvet, E., Sayed, A.A., Califf, L.L., Dessolin, J., Arnér, E.S.J., Williams, D.L. (2007) Thioredoxin glutathione reductase from Schistosoma mansoni: An essential parasite enzyme and a key drug target. PLoS Medicine 4(6), e206. Kuntz et al.

Williams, D.L., Sayed, A.A., Ray, D., and McArthur A.G. (2006) Schistosoma mansoni albumin, a major defense against oxidative damage, was acquired by lateral gene transfer from a mammalian host. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 150, 359–363. Albumin LGT

Sayed, A.A., Cook S.K., and Williams D.L. (2006) Redox balance mechanisms in Schistosoma mansoni rely on peroxiredoxins and albumin and implicate peroxiredoxins as novel drug targets. Journal of Biological Chemistry 281, 17001-17010.  Sayed Cook Williams

Williams, D.L., Asahi, H., Oke, T.T., da Rosa, J.L., and Stadecker, M.J. (2005) Murine immune responses to a novel schistosome egg antigen, SmEP25. International Journal for Parasitology 35, 875-882. SmEP25 Williams et al.

Williams, D.L. and Pierce, R.J (2005) Schistosoma Genomics. In ‘Schistosomiasis’, World Class Parasites series; v. 10, eds. W. Evan Secor and Daniel G. Colley, Springer, New York.

Sayed, A.A., and Williams D.L. (2004) Biochemical characterization of 2-Cys peroxiredoxins from Schistosoma mansoni. Journal of Biological Chemistry 279, 26159-26166. Sayed and Williams

Student Awards at AMCOP

Angie Kuntz receiving Honorable Mention Herrick award at AMCOP-56 from Dr. Patrick Muzzall