Paul Williams (Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom)
Speaker: Paul Williams (Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom)
Talk: The art of antibacterial warfare – deception through interference with quorum sensing–mediated communication
Time: Friday, 3rd July 2015, 09:00
Venue: Biotechnology Summer School 2015, Kadyny Folwark Hotel&SPA
Category: Invited lectures during Biotechnology Summer School
Paul Williams, biographical note
Paul Williams is Professor of Molecular Microbiology in the School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham U.K. He graduated in pharmacy in 1979 prior to undertaking a Ph.D in microbiology (1984). In 1996 he was appointed to the Directorship of the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation until 2008 when he became Head of the School of Molecular Medical Sciences, University of Nottingham. His research interests focus primarily on the regulation of gene expression in bacteria through cell-cell communication (quorum sensing) and the development of novel antibacterial agents and bacterial attachment resistant polymers. He has published around 300 research papers, reviews and book chapters and patents. For his quorum sensing research he was awarded the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain Conference Science Medal (1992), Pfizer prize in Pharmaceutical Sciences (1994) and the Society for General Microbiology Colworth Prize Lecture in 2007. Prof. Williams has served on the editorial/advisory boards of Environmental Microbiology, Journal of Bacteriology Microbiology, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Biofilms, International Journal of Medical Microbiology and Molecular Microbiology. He has also been a member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council U.K. (Plants and Microbes Committee), the Medical Research Council (MRC) U.K. Advisory Board, the MRC College of Experts, the Infection Group of the Society for General Microbiology and was a specialist advisor for the UK RAE2008 research selectivity exercise. He is currently a member of the MRC Infection and Immunity board, a member of the EU Joint Programming Initiative in Antimicrobial Resistance and is a Welcome Trust Senior Investigator.