Zachary Williams

For my undergraduate training I went to a small college in Kansas with limited research opportunities, especially in the areas I initially thought my career would be in: chemistry and mathematics. However, I found an internship at a small local pharmaceutical research company, Genzada Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. I spent a year there learning to operate liquid chromatography mass spectrometer (LCMS), gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GCMS), and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (ATR-FTIR) equipment, all of which are important in the purification and quality control aspects of drug design and production. I was also able to be at the forefront of developing new products and observing the process of procuring patents and submitting an IND to the FDA. The experience was invaluable in teaching me how a lab operates, what it takes to bring an invention from the lab towards the clinic and bolstered my passion for research and discovery.

Because of my experience at Genzada, I wanted to find a graduate program that focused more on biology and medicine and also on development and translation. This all led to entering the Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health program at Virginia Tech in August of 2019. I quickly found a mentor in Dr. Rob Gourdie who exemplifies an academic PI who insists on translating their basic research into patents, companies, and into medical practice, with multiple patents and drugs in clinical trials. My project focused on pro-drugs targeting the adhesion function of VGSC β1, with the goal of preventing arrhythmias and this resulted in a filed PCT patent.

I am choosing to pivot away from academia and towards patent law at this time in my career because I believe I have rounded out my skill set to effectively comprehend high level biological patents and assist in the journey from concept at the bench to published patent with the USPTO.

• 2023, Poster Prize winner, 2nd annual Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Vascular and Heart Research Symposium
• 2020, Finalist, Virginia Tech Entrepreneurial Challenge
• 2019, 1st place, Annual HS&T Hokie Pitch Competition
• 2019, Graduated Summa Cum Laude, with Honors, from Sterling College
• 2017, Gleason award for top sophomore student athlete at Sterling College
• 2016, Chemical Rubber Company Award (Top undergraduate chemistry student award)
• 2015-2019, Dean’s list, Sterling College

• 2024, NIH T32 TriMED: Measuring, Modeling and Manipulating Excitability and Disease
• 2021, NIH Ruth L. Kirschtein F31 Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award

• Peptidic Connexin43 Therapeutics in Cardiac Reparative Medicine, Marsh SR, Williams ZJ, Pridham KJ, Gourdie RG, J Cardiovasc Dev Dis, 05/21, 10.3390/jcdd8050052
• Tmem65 is critical for the structure and function of the intercalated discs in mouse hearts, Teng ACT, Gu L, Di Paola M, Lakin R, Williams ZJ, Au A, Chen W, Callaghan NI, Zadeh FH, Zhou YQ, Fatah M, Chatterjee D, Jourdan LJ, Liu J, Simmons CA, Kislinger T, Yip CM, Backx PH, Gourdie RG, Hamilton RM, Gramolini AO, Nat Commun, 10/22, 10.1038/s41467-022-33303-y
• Development and Characterization of the Mode-of-Action of Inhibitory and Agonist Peptides Targeting the Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel SCN1B/β1 Subunit, Williams ZJ, Alvarez-Laviada A, Hoagland D, Jourdan LJ, Poelzing S, Gorelik J, Gourdie RG, JMCC, In Press 2024
• New focus on cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel β1 and β1B: Novel targets for treating and understanding arrhythmias?, Williams ZJ, Laura Beth Payne, Xiaobo Wu, Robert G. Gourdie, Heart Rhythm, In Press 2024