John Williams

John WilliamsJohn

Education:

M.S., Electrical Engineering, Stony Brook University, 2015

B.E., Computer Engineering & Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, 2013

Current Year:

7th Year MSTP

6th Year Graduate Student

Advisor:

Anissa Abi-Dargham, Psychiatry

Graduate Program:

BME

Research Interests:

Broadly, I am interested in applying quantitative techniques to reveal mechanisms underlying neurological and psychiatric disease (e.g. epilepsy, anxiety, and depression), as well as develop and evaluate modes of treatment.  I am specifically interested in using electrophysiological and neuroimaging techniques (EEG, fMRI, PET, DTI, etc.), as well as novel forms of their combined analysis, to study human populations.  Previously, I worked to develop mathematical models of optogenetic modulators and sensors (e.g. Channelrhosopsin-2) to study the ionic mechanisms underlying their use in humans by analyzing computational simulations of their integration with cardiomyocytes and neurons.

Publications:

Klimas A, Ambrosi CM, Yu J, Williams JC, Bien H, Entcheva E. (2016). OptoDyCE as an Automated System for High-Throughput All-Optical Dynamic Cardiac Electrophysiology. Nature Communications. 7:11542 doi: 10.1038/ncomms11542.

Williams JC and Entcheva E. (2015). Optogenetic vs. Electrical Stimulation of Human Cardiomyocytes: Modeling Insights. Biophysical Journal. 2015 Apr 21;108(8):1934-45. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2015.03.032. PMID: 25902433; PMCID: PMC4407252.

Entcheva E and Williams JC. (2014). Channelrhodopsin2 Current During the Action Potential: "Optical AP Clamp" and Approximation. Scientific Reports. 2014 Jul 25;4:5838. doi:10.1038/srep05838. PMID: 25060859.

Williams JC, Xu J, LuZ, Klimas A, Chen X, Ambrosi CM, Cohen IS, and Entcheva E. (2013). Computational optogenetics: empirically-derived voltage- and light-sensitive channelrhodopsin-2 model. PloS Computational Biology. 2013;9(9):e1003220. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi. 1003220. Epub 2013 Sep 12. PMID: 24068903; PMCID: PMC3772068.

Boyle PM, Williams JC, Ambrosi CM, Entcheva E, and Trayanova NA. (2013). A comprehensive multiscale framework for simulating optogenetics in the heart. Nature Communications. 2013;4:2370. doi: 10.1038/ncomms3370. PMID: 23982300; PMCID: PMC3838435.