Professor William J Griffiths studied for his BSc and PhD in Chemistry at University College Cardiff, after which he moved fifty miles west to work as a post doc in John Beynon’s Royal Society Research Unit at Swansea University. At Swansea, Professor Griffiths' research was centred on the physical chemistry of gas-phase ions and these studies were complimented with a short spell at the Physics Department, Uppsala University. Following this, Professor Griffiths moved to Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, to work with Professor Jan Sjövall in the area of biomedical mass spectrometry. He left Karolinska Institute for The School of Pharmacy, University of London, in spring 2003 and joined the Institute of Mass Spectrometry in Swansea in September 2007.

Outside of Europe, Professor Griffiths spent three years as a lecturer in physical chemistry at the University of the West Indies, Kingston Jamaica.  He is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the British Mass Spectrometry Society, the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the European Network on Oxysterol Research.

Research Interests

Professor Griffiths's research group is focused on mass spectrometric analysis of lipids and proteins [Griffiths & Wang 2010]. Current projects involve the study of cholesterol biosynthesis and metabolism, particularly the formation of oxysterols and bile acids [Griffiths & Sjövall 2010]. New and improved methods for the identification, quantification, and characterization of bile acids, oxysterols, and other sterols, are being developed [Ogundare et al 2010]; and the involvement of these molecules in neurogenesis is being investigated [Wang et al 2009]. Complementary to this, proteomic techniques are being used to study biosynthetic and metabolizing enzymes in tissues and [Seibert et al 2010] cells [Wang et al 2008]. Protein-lipid interactions are an area of additional interest, with investigations being made using non-denaturing mass spectrometry on receptor-ligand non-covalent complexes [Lengqvist et al 2004], and using chemical proteomics methods to identify lipid interacting proteins.

Other Interests

Professor Griffiths is a keen cricket and rugby fan. While at University in Cardiff, he played for the college 1st XI, and subsequently for the Swansea University Staff Cricket team. While working in Jamaica he represented the national rugby XV and during his time in the Nordic countries played for Finland against Norway and Sweden.

Collaborators

Professor Anne Stephenson, Dr Jasmina Jovanovic, Professor David Thurston, Dr Yuqin Wang

Main External Collaborators

Professor Jan Sjövall (Stockholm); Dr Jurgen Groet and Professor Dean Nizetic (Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry); Dr S D Taylor-Robinson, (Imperial College London); and Professor Brian Davidson and Professor Barry Fuller (University College Medical School).

Industrial Collaborators

GSK