Roy Williams, Ph.D.

Roy Williams has worked on several land mark studies on human stem cells, including the first comprehensive comparative analysis of gene expression in human pluripotent stem cells, and PluriTest, a popular cloud based molecular diagnostic test for human stem cell pluripotency. More recently he worked with whole genome sequencing data to determine the amount of allelic variation between iPSCs derived using different reprogramming methodologies. Roy has an established track record of working with medical professionals and spent seven years providing bioinformatics support to the local bio-medical research community at The Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute and Scripps. This included a wide range of projects including NGS data analysis, methylation studies, microarrays, proteomics and the development of specialized data analysis web sites. Roy joined the UCSD Frazer Lab in January 2014 and has coordinated research aimed at the phenotypic characterization of iPSC derived human cardiomyocytes, and at the possible molecular genetic origins underlying this variation.