Evan R. Williams

Professor Williams' research group is developing and applying novel instrumental and computational techniques in mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, separations, and laser spectroscopy for probing structure and function of biomolecules, noncovalent macromolecular complexes, ion solvation, and solving problems of fundamental and practical interest in chemistry and biochemistry. Current projects include developing new charge detection mass spectrometers that extend the mass range of conventional mass spectrometry instruments by more than seven orders of magnitude, developing novel ionization methods capable of transferring large nanoparticles from aerosols or from solution into mass spectrometers, investigating the biophysical properties and dynamics of macromolecular complexes, including protein and RNA/DNA complexes, viruses, viral-like particles, and synthetic nanoparticles, investigating aggregation of proteins implicated in neurogenerative diseases and developing high-throughput methods to assay potential inhibitors, investigating chemistry in droplets to understand effects of confinement on chemical reactivity, understanding ion solvation, how water affects molecular structure and how ions affect the hydrogen bonding network of water itself, and developing spatially resolved mass spectrometry sampling with infrared microscopy to obtained detailed chemical information about surfaces, including cells and tissues, on the micron scale.  A number of different types of state-of-the-art mass spectrometers and lasers are used in these studies.