Professor Alan
Williams
BHF Sir Thomas Lewis
Professor of Cardiovascular Science
Wales Heart Research Institute, Cardiff
University
To pump blood around our bodies effectively,
heart muscle cells contract and relax in a rhythmic way.
Contraction and relaxation occurs partly through the controlled
flow of calcium ions around the cells, and faults
can cause sometimes life-threatening irregularities in our heart’s
rhythm (called arrhythmia).
Professor Williams is an internationally
respected expert in the control of this vital calcium flux.
A route for calcium release
With each heart beat an increase in free calcium
inside heart muscle cells results in contraction, and a return to
resting levels brings about relaxation.
Most of the calcium that activates contraction
comes from a store within the cell itself, called the sarcoplasmic
reticulum (SR). Calcium moves in and out of this store in a tightly
regulated way.
Alan Williams' research focus is on an important
route through which calcium is released into the cell from the SR –
a giant protein structure in the SR membrane called the ‘SR
calcium-release channel’ (also known as the ryanodine
receptor).
The Cardiff team use biophysical, biochemical
and molecular biological techniques to monitor the function of
individual channel molecules. The way the channel's structure
influences its function is investigated using sophisticated
computer simulations of the channel developed in collaboration with
researchers North America.
These studies are revealing the structural
adaptations of the SR calcium-release channel that underlie its
fundamental role in maintaining the normal function of the
heart.
Sudden cardiac death
Recently we’ve begun to understand that faults
in the SR calcium-release channel may play an important role in
initiating irregular heart rhythms and sudden death in certain
inherited and acquired heart conditions.
In Cardiff, Williams works closely with other
world-leading experts in this field to understand how changes in
calcium-release channel function bring about these dangerous
changes in heart rhythm. In the long term, this research will feed
into the development of focussed therapies to prevent these tragic
events.
Further information
Read more about our achievements in research into sudden arrhythmic death
syndrome.