Biographical Sketch

Dr. Williams joined the Department of Biology at Morgan State University (MSU) in July of 2002 as a Professor of Biology and Chairperson. Prior to joining Morgan, Dr. Williams served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biology at Howard University (1995-2001).

Dr. Williams joined the faculty at Howard University in 1991 through the former Department of Botany. He is a native of Alabama, received the B.S. degree; 1969 (Alabama State University), M.S. degree; 1971 (Atlanta University) and Ph.D. degree from Purdue University in Molecular Biology in 1975. Subsequently, he was engaged in a brief period of postdoctoral research at the NIH. Prior to joining the faculty at Howard University, Williams served on the faculties at Murray State University, University of Kentucky, and Atlanta University.

During the past twenty-nine (29) years, Williams has devoted substantial efforts to the education and training of minorities in the biomedical sciences. Williams has received numerous honors and awards during his career such as Research Scientist, Teacher of the Year, Faculty of the Year, etc. He is a member of several prestigious scientific organizations; served as a member of national review panels, chaired several boards for undergraduate and graduate fellowships/scholarships; and is a former President of the Howard University Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. To date, in addition to several postdoctoral fellows, he has served as research advisor for 28 graduate students, (15 M.S. and 13 PhDs), 31 undergraduates and 14 high school students. He has generated over 30 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and received more than $3 million in extramural grant support.

Research Interest

The major concern of our laboratory involves the regulation of gene expression in bacteria and fungi. Specifically, we are interested in (1) overproduction of lignocellulosic enzymes of Coriolus versicolor by genetic engineering methodology; (2) characterization of anti-fungal substance(s) produced by strains of Bacillus sp; and (3) identification and analysis of gene expression patterns using Microarrays and DNA Chips (Nanotechnology). DNA Nanotechnology consists of a number of high throughput techniques aimed at analyses of genetic sequencing inducing: Microarrays and DNA Chips technology, Bioinformatics, Proteomics , and therapeutics agents. Currently, we are developing fluorescent diagnostic primers and probes with the utilization of Real-Time PCR techniques as well as biomarker(s) for breast and prostate cancer detection.

Selected Publications

1. R.V. Goins and A. L. Williams. 2001. Transformation of Escherichia coli K-12: Studies on the role cAMP during the induction of competence. Abstract published in Grad. Res. Symp. Proceedings.
2. F. Fassil, R. Redd, L. Frederick, and A. L. Williams. 2002. Partial characterization of anti-fungal substance(s) from culture filtrates of Bacillus sp. Southeastern Biology 49: 124-125.
3. S. K. Dutta, O. Toure’, A. Adam, Y-Q. Chen, and A. L. Wiliams. 2003. Indigenous mixed soil bacteria in presence of compatible plants are more efficient in PCB degradation. Fresenius Environ. Bullet. 12(3):314-319.
4. J. Adeyeye, H. F. Azurmendi, C. J. M. Stroop, A. Bush, S. Sozhamannan, J. A. Johnson, A. L. Williams, and A. M. Adetumbi. 2003. Conformation of the hexasaccharide repeating subunit from the Vibrio cholerae 0139 capsular polysaccharide. Biochem. 42: 3979-3988.
5. S. De, S. Pramanik, A.L. Williams and S. K. Dutta. 2004. Toxicity of Polychlorobiphenyls and its Bioremediation. Int J. Hum Genet. 4(4):281-290
6. F. Oladiende, A Kinyua, A. Laditan, R. Michelin, M. Makinde, A.L. Williams, M. Iwunze, A. Kennedy, E. Taylor, and Y. Bronner. 2004. New Potential of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Diabetes Mellitus. West Indian Med J. 53 (Suppl. 1): 30.
7. H. Banerjee, Z. Hawkins, J. Williams, M. Blackshear, C. Sawyer, L. Cezares, S. Pramanik, and A.L. Williams. 2004. Search for a novel biomarker for the brain cancer Astrocytoma by using Surfaced Enhanced Laser Desportion/Ionization (SELDI) technique. Cell. Mol. Biol. 50(6): 733-736.
8. S. Pramaink, A.L. Williams, and J.D.Bewley. 2004. Endogenous protein kinase-C activity and phosphorylated proteins in messenger ribonucleoprotein complexes of developing embryos of Alfalfa. Cell Mol. Biol. 50 (6):773-781.