Phone: (413) 585-3826
Office: Clark Science Center
Email: swilliam@email.smith.edu
Website:

Courses:

Bio 152 Genetics, Genomics and Evolution

Bio 350 Topics in Molecular Biology
Bio 101 Modern Biology for the Concerned Citizen
Bio 332 Molecular Biology of Eukaryotes

Research Interests:

(For a more complete description of my laboratory's research and a more complete list of publications, please see our home page)

My laboratory focuses on research designed to elucidate the molecular biology of the parasites that cause elephantiasis and African river blindness. All of our research relates in one way or another to the goal of eliminating these diseases which afflict over 200 million people worldwide. The following areas of research are actively ongoing in my laboratory:

1) Projects that use the modern tools of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics to elucidate the biology of these parasites.

2) Project that use genomic information to identify and study vaccine candidates, drug targets, and diagnostic molecules. The Global Program for the Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis will depend on the development of new drugs and vaccines in order to succeed in eliminating these parasites from the human population.

3) Projects to develop extremely sensitive DNA-based assays for screening human and mosquito populations for the presence of these parasites. Such sensitive techniques will be critical to monitoring the success of the global elimination programs.

4) Field-based projects to apply our DNA-based monitoring assays wherever they are needed. Thus far, we have used our test in French Polynesia, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere.

5) Projects to study the novel ways that these parasites organize and regulate their genes, including the study of gene regulation during the development of these parasites.

If any of these projects are of interest, please feel free to drop by my laboratory (SR-407) and discuss this research with me or anyone else working in my lab.

Representative Publications:

(Smith students and former Smith students are underlined)

Filarial Genomics: Gene Discovery and Gene Expression. S.A. Williams and S.J. Laney; In: World Class Parasites: Volume 5, The Filaria. Ed. T.R. Klei and T.V. Rajan, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA., p. 31-42, 2003.

The River Blindness Genome Project. S.A. Williams, S.J. Laney, M. Lizotte-Waniewski, L.A. Bierwert, and T.R. Unnasch. Trends in Parasitology, 18: 86-90, 2002.

Development and Standardization of a Rapid, PCR-based Method for the Detection of Wuchereria bancrofti in Mosquitoes, for Xenomonitoring the Human Prevalence of Bancroftian Filariasis. S.A. Williams, S.J. Laney, L.A. Bierwert, L.J. Saunders, D.A. Boakye, P. Fischer, D. Goodman, H. Helmy, S.L. Hoti, V. Vasuki, P.J. Lammie, C. Plichart, R.M.R. Ramzy, and E.A. Ottesen. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, 96: S41-46, 2002.

Identification of Potential Vaccine and Drug Target Candidates by Expressed Sequence Tag Analysis and Immunoscreening of Onchocerca volvulus Larval cDNA Libraries. M. Lizotte-Waniewski, W. Tawe, D.B. Guiliano, W. Lu, J. Liu, S.A. Williams, and S. Lustigman. Infection and Immunity, 68: 3491-3501, 2001.

Detection of DNA of Nocturnally Periodic Brugia malayi in Night and Day Blood Samples by a Polymerase Chain Reaction-ELISA-Based Method Using an Internal Control DNA. P. Fischer, T. Supali, H. Wibowo, I. Bonow, and S.A. Williams, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 62: 291-296, 2000.

The Nuclear, Mitochondrial and Endosymbiont Genomes of Brugia malayi. S.A. Williams, M.R. Lizotte-Waniewski, D. Guiliano, J. Daub, M.L. Blaxter, J. Foster, B. Slatko and A. L. Scott. Int. J. Parasitol., 30: 411-419, 2000.

The Genomes of Onchocerca volvulus. T.R. Unnasch and S.A. Williams. Int. J. Parasitol, 30: 543-552, 2000.

Helminth Genome Analysis: the Current Status of the Filarial and Schistosome Genome Projects. S.A. Williams and D.A. Johnston. Parasitology, 118: S19-S38, 1999.

Deep Within the Filarial Genome: an Update on the Progress of the Filarial Genome Project. The Filarial Genome Project: S.A. Williams, Parasitology Today, 15: 219-224, 1999.