Dr Roderick Williams
Lecturer of Microbiology, University of the West of Scotland
Dr Roderick Williams is a Lecturer of Microbiology at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). Roderick has a PhD from the University of Glasgow and on completion has worked on molecular and biochemical biology of Leishmania at the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde, and as a Research Fellow and Lecturer at UWS. At UWS, Roderick has expanded his research interest to amoeba of public health significance to human and fish health.
Roderick’s current research focuses broadly on parasitology. Roderick is interested in understanding the biochemical and molecular biology of the kinetoplastid, Leishmania spp and amoebae, Acanthamoeba spp and Neoparamoeba perurans, including the endosymbiotic relationships of amoebas using genomics, biochemistry, and omics platforms.
He is currently using these approaches to investigate the tripartite relationships between Neoparamoeba and its kinetoplastid (Perkinsela) and bacteria endosymbionts, to identify molecular targets for drug development for Amoebic Gill Disease. Roderick has applied similar approaches to his work on drug sensitive and resistant amoeba and Leishmania.
Selected publications
- Mooney, R., Masala , M., Martial, T., McGinness, C., Henriquez, F., & Williams, R. A. M. (2020). Alkyl-carbon chain length of two distinct compounds and derivatives are key determinants of their anti-Acanthamoeba activities. Scientific Reports, 10(1), [6420]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62934-8
- Mooney, R., & Williams, R. (2020). Alkylphosphocholines and quaternary ammonium compounds against Acanthamoeba keratitis. Journal of Ophthalmological Science, 2(2), 5-14. https://ophthalmolscience.com/articles/alkylphosphocholines-and-quaternary-ammonium-compounds-against-acanthamoeba-keratitis.html