个人简介

Georgia Tech Faculty Award for Academic Outreach, 2013; Georgia Tech College of Science Faculty Mentor Award, 2013; Petit Institute "Above and Beyond" Award, 2012 ; Sigma Xi, Best Thesis of the Year from Georgia Tech, 2009 (Student: Chiaolong Hsiao) ; Sigma Xi, Best Paper of the Year from Georgia Tech, 1997; National Science Foundation, CAREER Award, 1995-1998 ; Medical Foundation/Charles A. King Trust, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1991-1992 ; National Institutes of Health, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1989-1991 ; American Cancer Society, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1987-1988 ; Phi Lambda Upsilon, Honorary Chemical Society, Duke University Chapter, President 1983-1984

研究领域

Biochemistry/Chemical Biology/Chemical Education/Molecular Biophysics

We study folding and structure of RNA and DNA as modulated by sequence, covalent damage, anti-cancer drugs, proteins, other nucleic acid molecules. The oldest assembly in biology is the ribosome, which is a primary focus of our efforts. Ancient ribosomal structure and function, from beyond the root of the tree of life, can be inferred from extant structure/function combined with phylogeny, evolutionary theory, biophysical chemistry, bioinformatics and molecular biology. We use all of these approaches to construct models of ancient ribosomes, which we then study by biochemical methods. Three-dimensional structure, being more conserved over evolutionary time than sequence, offers some of the most important guideposts in our journeys down the base of the tree of life.

近期论文

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Harris, L.A., Williams, L.D., and Koudelka, G.B. "Specific Minor Groove Solvation Is a Crucial Determinant of DNA Binding Site Recognition", Nucleic Acids Res. (2014). Petrov, A.S., Bernier, C.R., Hsiao, C., Norris, A.M., Kovacs, N.A., Waterbury, C.C., Stepanov, V.G., Harvey, S.C., Fox, G.E., Wartell, R.M., Hud, N.V., and Williams, L.D. "Evolution of the Ribosome at Atomic Resolution", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (2014). Petrov, A.S., Bernier, C.R., Gulen, B., Waterbury, C.C., Hershkovitz, E., Hsiao, C., Harvey, S.C., Hud, N.V., Fox, G.E., Wartell, R.M., and Williams, L.D. "Secondary Structures of rRNAs from All Three Domains of Life", PLoS One, 9 e88222, (2014). Bernier, C., Petrov, A.S., Waterbury, C., Jett, J., Li, F., Freil, L.E., Xiong, b., Wang, L., Le, A., Milhouse, B.L., Hershkovitz, E., Grover, M., Xue, Y., Hsiao, C., Bowman, J.C., Harvey, S.C., Wartel, J.Z., and Williams, L.D. "Ribovision: Visualization and Analysis of Ribosomes", Faraday Discuss. 169, 1-12 (2014). Jones, B.L., VanLoozen, J., Kim, M.H., Miles, S.J., Dunham, C.M., Williams, L.D., and Snell, T.W. "Stress Granules Form in Brachionus Manjavacas (Rotifera) in Response to a Variety of Stressors", Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular & integrative physiology 166, 375-384 (2013). Petrov, A.S., Bernier, C.R., Hershkovitz, E., Xue, Y., Waterbury, C.C., Grover, M.A., C., H.S., Hud, N.V., Wartell, R.M., and Williams, L.D. "Secondary Structure and Domain Architecture of the 23S rRNA", Nucleic Acids Res. 41, 7522-7535 (2013). Hsiao, C., Chou, I.-C., Okafor, C.D., Bowman, J.C., O'Neill, E.B., Athavale, S.S., Petrov, A.S., Hud, N.V., Wartell, R.M., Harvey, S.C., and Williams, L.D. "Iron(II) Plus RNA Can Catalyze Electron Transfer", Nature Chemistry 5, 525-528 (2013). Hud, N.V., Cafferty, B.J., Krishnamurthy, R., and Williams, L.D. "The Origin of RNA and "My Grandfather's Axe"", Chem. Biol. 20, 466-474 (2013). Hsiao, C., Lenz, T.K., Peters, J.K., Fang, P.Y., Schneider, D.M., Anderson, E.J., Preeprem, T., Bowman, J.C., O'Neill, E.B., Lie, L., Athavale, S.S., Gossett, J.J., Trippe, C., Murray, J., Petrov, A.S., Wartell, R.M., Harvey, S.C., Hud, N.V., and Williams, L.D. "Molecular Paleontology: A Biochemical Model of the Ancestral Ribosome", Nucleic Acids Res. 41, 3373-3385 (2013). Athavale, S.S., Gossett, J.J., Bowman, J.C., Hud, N.V., Williams, L.D., and Harvey, S.C. "In Vitro Secondary Structure of the Genomic RNA of Satellite Tobacco Mosaic Virus", PLoS One 8, e54384 (2013). Harris, L.A., Watkins, D., Williams, L.D., and Koudelka, G.B. "Indirect Readout of DNA Sequence by P22 Repressor: Roles of DNA and Protein Functional Groups in Modulating DNA Conformation", J. Mol. Biol. 425, 133-143 (2013). Williams, L.D. "Yin and Yang: Polypeptide and Polynucleotide", Origins of LIfe Community Page (2012). Peters, J.W., and Williams, L.D. "The Origin of Life: Look up and Look Down", Astrobiology 12, 1087-1092 (2012). Bowman, J.C., Azizi, B., Lenz, T.K., Roy, P., and Williams, L.D. Preparation of Long Templates for RNA in Vitro Transcription by Recursive PCR, in Recombinant and in Vitro RNA Synthesis: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology (Conn, G. L., Ed.), pp 19-41, Springer Science, LLC (2012). Petrov, A.S., Bernier, C.R., Hsiao, C.L., Okafor, C.D., Tannenbaum, E., Stern, J., Gaucher, E., Schneider, D., Hud, N.V., Harvey, S.C., and Williams, L.D. "RNA-Magnesium-Protein Interactions in Large Ribosomal Subunit", J. Phys. Chem. B 116, 8113-8120 (2012). Bowman, J.C., Lenz, T.K., Hud, N.V., and Williams, L.D. "Cations in Charge: Magnesium Ions in RNA Folding and Catalysis ", Current Opinion in Structural Biology 22, 262-272 (2012). Engelhart, A.E., Cafferty, B.J., Okafor, C.D., Chen, M.C., Williams, L.D., Lynn, D.G., and Hud, N.V. "Nonenzymatic Ligation of DNA with a Reversible Step and a Final Linkage That Can Be Used in PCR", ChemBioChem 13, 1121-1124 (2012). Athavale, S.S., Petrov, A.S., Hsiao, C., Watkins, D., Prickett, C.D., Gossett, J.J., Lie, L., Bowman, J.C., O'Neill, E., Bernier, C.R., Hud, N.V., Wartell, R.M., Harvey, S.C., and Williams, L.D. "RNA Folding and Catalysis Mediated by Iron (II)", PLoS ONE 7, e38024 (2012). Athavale, S.S., Gossett, J.J., Hsiao, C., Bowman, J.C., O'Neill, E., Hershkovitz, E., Preeprem, T., Hud, N.V., Wartell, R.M., Harvey, S.C., and Williams, L.D. "Domain III of the T. thermophilus 23S rRNA Folds Independently to a near-Native State", RNA 18, 752-758 (2012). Maehigashi, T., Hsiao, C., Kruger Woods, K., Moulaei, T., Hud, N.V., and Williams, L.D. "B-DNA Structure Is Intrinsically Polymorphic: Even at the Level of Base Pair Positions", Nucleic Acids Res. 8, 3714-3722. (2012).