Alun Williams

Professor Alun Williams

BVMS PhD MRCVS DIPECVP SFHEA

  • Position Governing Body Fellow
  • School Biological Sciences Department of Veterinary Medicine
  • Email aw510@cam.ac.uk
  • Department link Veterinary Medicine
  • Phone number 01223 337640

Alun is a Professor of Veterinary Diagnostic Pathology and a Director of Studies in Clinical Veterinary Medicine.

 

 

Alun Williams

Alun received his BVMS at the University of Glasgow in 1985 and his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1989. He has been awarded Postgraduate Certificates in Medical Education (2016), Examinations and Assessments (PGCert 2019; Advanced PGCert 2020), and Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2022), all from the University of Cambridge.

Since 2009, he has been Professor of Veterinary Diagnostic Pathology where he is responsible for provision of pathology diagnostic services and pathology support to research projects; provision of teaching in veterinary pathology. He has been the Director of Teaching / Associate Dean for Education at the Vet School from 2012-2023. Alun is currently developing the profile of veterinary education research.

Alun is an External Examiner at two other UK universities - both of these positions relating to education - and is a member of the External Expert Panel for a Malaysian vet school.

He holds the following positions:

Member, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, 1985
Diplomate, European College of Veterinary Pathology, 1999
Fellow, Higher Education Academy, 2009
Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy, 2023

He was previously:

2003-2009: Professor of Pathology and Infectious Diseases (and Head of Department), The Royal Veterinary College, University of London

2001-2003: Reader in Veterinary Pathology, University of Glasgow

1997-2001: Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Pathology, University of Glasgow

1990-1997: Veterinary Research Officer and Named Veterinary Surgeon, Institute for Animal Health, Edinburgh

1989-1990: MRC University Research Fellowship

1985-1988: AFRC Veterinary Schools’ Fellowship

1985-1990: Locum Veterinary Surgeon (various practices – full-time 1985; part-time thereafter)

Research interests

Alun leads a research group whose current focus in determining the mechanism of neurodegeneration in chronic neurodegenerative diseases, particularly prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and also Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s.

For all these three peptides, the concentration required to cause synaptic damage in cultured neurons is 1/1000 that required to cause cell death – reflecting the pathogenesis of these diseases in vivo where synaptic loss occurs prior to cell death, and when concentrations of the toxic peptide in the affected areas of the brain are lower. These studies have also clearly demonstrated that cross-linking molecules of the outer membrane leaflet protein PrP (prion protein) causes dense packing of their GPI anchor within lipid rafts – and this triggers a signaling cascade that results in synapse loss and cell death.

These signaling pathways include the phospholipase-cyclooxygenase-prostaglandin pathway as inhibition of that pathway abrogates toxic effects of PrP and the Ab peptide of Alzheimer’s disease. Activation of this pathway is lipid-raft dependent as dispersion of rafts inhibits the pathway activation and PrP toxicity. Indeed, the group’s recent studies have demonstrated that Ab toxicity is mediated through aggregation of PrP GPI anchors in the lipid rafts, confirming a common toxicity pathway in these two diseases.

In contrast, the a-synuclein protein of Parkinson’s appears to act via a non-PrP mediated manner. In complementary studies, Alun’s group has demonstrated, for the first time, that activation of phospholipase A2 by abnomal forms of PrP at the cell surface results in it binding to type III tubulin, indicating that alterations in neuronal transport systems may contribute to the degenerative effects of these peptides. This work has been funded by a succession of EU contracts. He collaborates with Steve Gentleman (Imperial College, London) in a project funded by Parkinson’s UK aimed at identifying markers of early synaptic degeneration in Parkinson’s, with the aim not only of furthering understanding of pathogenesis and spread of this disease within the brain, but in a potential diagnostic indicator of neurodegenerative disease.

Alun is also part of a collaboration with Kate Brown, Chiara Bo, Ben Butler, the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge and the Institute of Shock Physics, Imperial College, London investigating the pathological effects of blast injury (shock wave injury) to a range of tissues. This project is funded by the Royal British Legion.

In addition, Alun has an interest in the pathogenesis of Streptococcus suis type 2 meningtits, and supports clinical research conducted by colleagues within the Department, and provides pathology support to several studies within University of Cambridge and allied Institutes.