Peter Richard Williamson, M.D., Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Translational Mycology Unit

NIAID/DIR

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4 Memorial Drive, Room 228B
Bethesda, MD 20814

301-443-8339

peter.williamson2@nih.gov

Research Topics

The Translational Mycology Unit seeks to understand the role of host-pathogen genetics in the outcome of fungal infections. We use an array of methods from fungal genetics, cell biology, immunology, and population genetics to identify and validate weak points of the host-pathogen interface that might facilitate personalized therapeutic intervention.

The laboratory currently is focusing on studies of the AIDS-related pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, which has become the fourth leading cause of infectious death in regions of the developing world, as well as Candida albicans, a major cause of bloodstream infections in the United States.

Biography

Dr. Williamson received his M.D./Ph.D. from Boston University in 1987 and completed a residency in internal medicine at Georgetown University before coming to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a fellowship in infectious diseases. In 1995, after serving a short stint as chief medical officer, Lalmba Sudan, Dr. Williamson joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago as an assistant professor of medicine in the section of infectious diseases. After progressing to the rank of professor of medicine, pathology, microbiology, and immunology, Dr. Williamson then returned to NIH to head the Translational Mycology Unit in the Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Selected Publications

  1. Anjum S, Dean O, Kosa P, Magone MT, King KA, Fitzgibbon E, Kim HJ, Zalewski C, Murphy E, Billioux BJ, Chisholm J, Brewer CC, Krieger C, Elsegeiny W, Scott TL, Wang J, Hunsberger S, Bennett JE, Nath A, Marr KA, Bielekova B, Wendler D, Hammoud DA, Williamson P. Outcomes in Previously Healthy Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis Patients Treated With Pulse Taper Corticosteroids for Post-infectious Inflammatory Syndrome. Clin Infect Dis. 2021;73(9):e2789-e2798.
  2. Hu G, Hacham M, Waterman SR, Panepinto J, Shin S, Liu X, Gibbons J, Valyi-Nagy T, Obara K, Jaffe HA, Ohsumi Y, Williamson PR. PI3K signaling of autophagy is required for starvation tolerance and virulenceof Cryptococcus neoformans. J Clin Invest. 2008;118(3):1186-97.
  3. Hu G, McQuiston T, Bernard A, Park YD, Qiu J, Vural A, Zhang N, Waterman SR, Blewett NH, Myers TG, Maraia RJ, Kehrl JH, Uzel G, Klionsky DJ, Williamson PR. A conserved mechanism of TOR-dependent RCK-mediated mRNA degradation regulates autophagy. Nat Cell Biol. 2015;17(7):930-942.
  4. Williamson PR, Jarvis JN, Panackal AA, Fisher MC, Molloy SF, Loyse A, Harrison TS. Cryptococcal meningitis: epidemiology, immunology, diagnosis and therapy. Nat Rev Neurol. 2017;13(1):13-24.
  5. Lu R, Hollingsworth C, Qiu J, Wang A, Hughes E, Xin X, Konrath KM, Elsegeiny W, Park YD, Atakulu L, Craft JC, Tramont EC, Mannino R, Williamson PR. Efficacy of Oral Encochleated Amphotericin B in a Mouse Model of Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis. mBio. 2019;10(3).

Related Scientific Focus Areas

This page was last updated on Tuesday, August 22, 2023