ANIMAL SCIENCE
BUILDING
BETTER CATTLE
FROM THE
GENES UP
The new J.S. Davies Research Professor, John Williams,
has a distinguished career in the genetic improvement
of livestock animals for agricultural production. His
background is in ruminant research – cows, sheep,
goats and buffalo – with a particular area of expertise in
cattle. But it almost didn’t end up that way.
Head of the Cattle Blood Typing Service and Head of
the Bovine Genomics Section. Then in 2005 he took on
a short-term contract at the Parco Tecnologico Padano
in Italy – but stayed as Science Director for almost 10
years, where he was involved in establishing a start-up
diagnostics company.
When he left secondary school to study at King’s
College London, Professor Williams’ first love was
physics. “I knew I wanted to be a scientist but as I got
further into my studies I realised I was developing a
stronger interest in biology,” he says. This culminated in
dual Honours of physics and biology.
“Much of my career has been spent working in
agricultural research organisations that have started
small but have grown substantially. At the Roslin
Institute, their animal breeding programs were initially
focused on traditional genetics, but we expanded that
to cover molecular biology and genomics, and I was
involved in translating this into services for industry. I
had a similar experience at Parco Tecnologico Padano,
which grew to have an international research impact,”
Professor Williams says.
Inspired by his experiences at King’s with Nobel Laureate
Maurice Wilkins, Professor Williams undertook a PhD
in Biochemistry at the National Institute for Medical
Research, London. After studying gene expression in
the aquatic frog species Xenopus, he then moved to
the University of Edinburgh to work with Drosophila
fruit flies. Professor Williams found his expertise in the
underlying genetics of animal disease leading him to
agricultural science.
He moved to the Roslin Institute in 1986 to work on
tropical diseases and spent a period working on
secondment in Kenya. At Roslin, Professor Williams was
He sees his new role in the University’s School of Animal
and Veterinary Sciences as in keeping with these past
experiences. “I’m very excited about being here at the
University, at a time when we’re looking to establish the
J.S. Davies Animal Research Centre.
“To be building on
the outstanding
work that’s
already been
conducted at
Roseworthy
is a great
opportunity.”
PHOTO
Professor John Williams at
the Roseworthy campus
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“To be building on the outstanding work that’s already
been conducted at the Roseworthy campus, and
helping it to develop, is a great opportunity,” he says.
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