Dr. Gareth Williams

Biography

Gareth Williams is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. He earned his PhD from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2006. After his doctoral training, he worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, USA. In February 2016, he opened his own laboratory within the Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute at the University of Calgary. His research focuses on structural biology approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms of genomic instability in cancer. The primary interest of his lab is to elucidate the molecular basis of key steps in the homologous recombination repair (HRR) pathway, which is essential for maintaining genomic stability and accurately repairing DNA damage. His work highlights the importance of HRR in cancer, particularly in relation to inherited mutations in HRR genes such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, which predispose individuals to breast and ovarian cancers. Williams utilizes a combination of hybrid structural techniques, including small-angle X-ray scattering and macromolecular X-ray crystallography, to investigate protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions.

Research Interests

Experience