Bryan Raymond George Williams Hon. FRSNZ, FAA (born 1949) is a molecular biologist from New Zealand, with expertise in innate immunity and cancer biology. He is emeritus director and distinguished scientist at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, and professor in the Department of Molecular and Translational Science at Monash University.
Background and early career Williams graduated in 1973, from the University of Otago, New Zealand, with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in microbiology. He was awarded his PhD from the department of microbiology, University of Otago in 1976. He then moved to the UK to undertake postdoctoral training at the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill, London, where he worked on the biochemistry of interferon action.Clemens MJ and Williams BRG (1978) Inhibition of cell-free protein synthesis by pppA2'p5'A2'p5' A: a novel oligonucleotide synthesized by interferon-treated L cell extracts. Cell 13:565–572, doi:10.1016/0092-8674(78)90329-X].Williams BRG and Kerr IM (1978) Inhibition of protein synthesis by 2′-5′ linked adenine nucleotides in intact cells. Nature 276:88–90, doi:10.1038/276088a0.Williams BRG, Golgher RR, Brown RE, Gilbert CS and Kerr IM (1979) Natural occurrence of 2-5A in interferon-treated EMC virus-infected L cells. Nature 282:582–586, doi:10.1038/282582a0.
Research career In 1980, Williams relocated to Toronto, Canada, where he held positions at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto. He continued to work on the mechanisms of interferon actionHannigan GE and Williams BRG (1991) Signal transduction by interferon-alpha through arachidonic acid metabolism. Science 251:204–207, doi:10.1126/science.1898993. and reported the sequence of the interferon-induced protein kinase R.Meurs E, Chong K, Galabru J, Thomas NSB, Kerr IM, Williams BRG and Hovanessian AG (1990) Molecular cloning and characterization of the human double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase induced by interferon. Cell 62:379–390, doi:10.1016/0092-8674(90)90374-N. He also worked on the characterisation of the Wilms tumour gene.Huang A, Campbell CE, Bonetta L, McAndrews-Hill MS, Chilton-MacNeil S, Coppes MJ, Law DJ, Feinberg AP, Yeger H and Williams BRG (1990) Tissue, developmental, and tumor-specific expression of divergent transcripts in Wilms tumor. Science 250:991–994, doi:10.1126/science.2173145.Bonetta L, Kuehn SE, Huang A, Law DJ, Kalikin LM, Koi M, Reeve AE, Browstein BH, Yeger H, Williams BRG and Feinberg AP (1990) Wilms tumor locus on 11p13 defined by multiple CpG island-associated transcripts. Science 250:994–997, doi:10.1126/science.2173146. He was recruited to the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA in 1991, where he led the Department of Cancer Biology until 2005. In 2003, the Williams research group published a highly cited paper on the innate immune stimulatory activities of small interfering RNAs,Sledz CA, Holko M, de Veer MJ, Silverman RH and Williams BRG (2003) Activation of the interferon system by short-interfering RNAs. Nat Cell Biol 5:834–839, doi:10.1038/ncb1038. which has had important implications for the therapeutic development of small interfering RNAs.Marques JT and Williams BRG (2005) Activation of the mammalian immune system by siRNAs. Nat Biotechnol 23:1399–1405, doi:10.1038/nbt1161.
In January 2006, Williams was appointed as the director of the Monash Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, where he established the Centre for Cancer Research. Following the merger of the Monash Institute of Medical Research with Prince Henry's Institute in 2014, he was appointed director and CEO of the new organisation, which was renamed the Hudson Institute of Medical Research in 2015. His current research remains focused on cell signalling in innate immunity and cancer.
Appointments From 2006 to 2013, Williams served as chair of the board of directors of MEI Pharma, a cancer therapy company. He was a member of the Consultative Council of the Victorian Cancer Agency (2009–2012) and served on the board of directors of Cancer Trials Australia (2009–2015).
Williams currently serves as chair of the board of BioGrid Australia Ltd, and is a member of the board of directors of Pacific Edge Ltd, a cancer diagnostics company. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Hope Funds for Cancer Research (Newport, Rhode Island, USA) and is chair of the selection panel for the Premier's Award for Health and Medical Research, Victoria.
He is currently an editor of Journal of Virology (2013–2018) and was chair of the publications committee of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society from 2010 to 2016.
Awards and honours 1990: Milstein Award, International Society for Interferon Research 1997: Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1998–1999: President of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research 2005: Maurice Saltzman Award, The Mt Sinai Health Care Foundation 2006: Dolph Adams Award, Journal of Leukocyte Biology 2008: Boltzmann Award, International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research 2013: Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology 2013: Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
References