Rate My Professor Spencer Williams

Professor Spencer Williams is Professor of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, at the University of Melbourne, where he joined the faculty in 2002. He is also affiliated with the Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, serving as Associate Director of Commercialisation. Williams earned his BSc and PhD from the University of Western Australia, completing his doctorate in 1998 under the supervision of Professor Bob Stick. His research program in the Laboratory of Chemical Biology applies organic chemistry to biological systems, with expertise in carbohydrate chemistry and glycobiology. Key areas include enzymes and pathways of the human gut microbiota for degrading complex carbohydrates such as mannans and arabinogalactans, the biosulfur cycle, glycoimmunology, and total synthesis of bioactive marine natural products. Through chemical synthesis and structural biology, he elucidates mechanisms of carbohydrate-processing enzymes, contributing to understandings of microbial metabolism and host-microbe interactions.

Williams has co-authored the textbook Carbohydrates: The Essential Molecules of Life with R.V. Stick (Elsevier, 2009). His highly cited publications include Human gut Bacteroidetes can utilise yeast mannan through a selfish mechanism (Nature, 2015), A surface endogalactanase in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron confers keystone status for arabinogalactan degradation (Nature Microbiology, 2018), and Mechanistic insights into a Ca2+-dependent family of α-mannosidases in a human gut symbiont (Nature Chemical Biology, 2010). In 2021, he received the H.G. Smith Memorial Medal, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's premier research award, for pioneering contributions to chemical biology, particularly in carbohydrate chemistry, biochemistry, glycoimmunology, and medicinal chemistry. He co-founded Fibrotech Therapeutics, sold to Shire Plc, and sits on the editorial board of Carbohydrate Research. His interdisciplinary collaborations worldwide have advanced knowledge in glycobiology and microbial ecology, impacting fields from human health to biotechnology.