Williams, Dr Ellie

Academic background

Dr Williams studied Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Oxford (St. Catherine’s college) before studying for her PhD in Structural Biology at University College London. Since 2010 she has been working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Structural Genomics Consortium at the University of Oxford.

Teaching

Undergraduate: Physical Biochemistry

Research interests

Dr Williams’ research focuses on rare diseases, specifically the ultra-rare diseases Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressive (FOP) and Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). She specialises in using biophysical and structural techniques (particularly x-ray crystallography) to better understand the influence of the mutations found in these diseases on the function of the protein, and in the development of pre-clinical inhibitors.

Recent Publications

Bone morphogenetic protein receptors: Structure, function and targeting by selective small molecule kinase inhibitors, Bone Volume 138, September 2020, 115472 Review, Gonzalo Sanchez-Duffhues, Eleanor Williams, Marie-Jose Goumans, Carl-Henrik Heldin, Peter ten Dijke

Targeting ALK2: An Open Science Approach to Developing Therapeutics for the Treatment of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, J. Med. Chem. 2020, 63, 9, 4978–4996, Publication Date:May 5, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c00395, Deeba Ensan, David Smil, Carlos A. Zepeda-Velázquez, Dimitrios Panagopoulos, Jong Fu Wong, Eleanor P. Williams, Roslin Adamson, Alex N. Bullock, Taira Kiyota, Ahmed Aman, Owen G. Roberts, Aled M. Edwards, Jeff A. O’Meara, Methvin B. Isaac, and Rima Al-awar

DIPG-13. A novel mouse model reveals unexpected mechanisms of action of acvr1 mutations in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. Neuro-Oncology, Volume 21, Issue Supplement_2, April 2019, Page ii71, Jerome Fortin, Ruxiao Tian, Ida Zarrabi, Graham Hill, Eleanor Williams, Gonzalo Sanchez-Duffhues, Midory Thorikay, Parameswaran Ramachandran, Robert Siddaway, Jong Wong, Jillian Haight, Annick You-Ten, Bryan Snow, Andrew Wakeham, Daniel Schramek, Alex Bullock, Peter ten Dijke, Cynthia Hawkins, Tak Mak

Mutant ACVR1 Arrests Glial Cell Differentiation to Drive Tumorigenesis in Pediatric Gliomas. Cancer Cell. 2020 Mar 16;37(3):308-323.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.02.002. Epub 2020 Mar 5. Fortin J, Tian R, Zarrabi I, Hill G, Williams E, Sanchez-Duffhues G, Thorikay M, Ramachandran P, Siddaway R, Wong JF, Wu A, Apuzzo LN, Haight J, You-Ten A, Snow BE, Wakeham A, Goldhamer DJ, Schramek D, Bullock AN, Dijke PT, Hawkins C, Mak TW. 

Development of Macrocycle Kinase Inhibitors for ALK2 Using Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva-Derived Endothelial Cells. JBMR Plus. 2019 Oct 7;3(11):e10230. doi: 10.1002/jbm4.10230. eCollection 2019 Nov.

Sánchez-Duffhues G, Williams E, Benderitter P, Orlova V, van Wijhe M, Garcia de Vinuesa A, Kerr G, Caradec J, Lodder K, de Boer HC, Goumans MJ, Eekhoff EMW, Morales-Piga A, Bachiller-Corral J, Koolwijk P, Bullock AN, Hoflack J, Ten Dijke P.

Fostering open collaboration in drug development for paediatric brain tumours. Biochem Soc Trans. 2019 Oct 31;47(5):1471-1479. doi: 10.1042/BST20190315. Review. Wong JF, Brown EJ, Williams E, Bullock AN.