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Associate Professor Peter Williamson

Associate Professor Peter Williamson

Associate Professor of Genomics
Faculty of Veterinary Science
University of Sydney
Sydney NSW 2006
AUSTRALIA

Phone +61 2 9351 3653
Fax +61 2 9351 2114
email:p.williamson@usyd.edu.au

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) PhD Sydney, GAICD

Teaching Programs

  • Physiology
  • Genomics
  • Animal Biotechnology

Administration

  • Sub-Dean for Research, Sydney, Faculty of Veterinary Science
  • Research Advisory Committee

Research

  • The canine biobank project
  • Molecular and genetic basis of canine inherited disorders
  • Comparative genomics of immunity
  • Lactation genomics and reproductive traits in mice
  • Bioactive proteins and peptides

Contribution to the Profession and the Community

  • Reviewer for The Veterinary Journal, Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology.
  • Scientific Advisory Committee, International Milk Genomics Consortium

Career

Peter joined the Faculty in 2003 as a Principal Research Fellow in Functional Genomics and became Associate Professor of Genomics in 2008. He is responsible for the faculty’s Dog and Cat Genomics Research Initiative, and is presently developing the Canine Biobank Project, an integrated resource for canine genomics research.

He has over 25 years experience in research in the fields of genomics, immunology, immunogenetics, lymphocyte cell biology and lactation. He began his career in a research programme concerned with diabetes and transplantation immunology, before moving into the emerging field of molecular immunogenetics.

He completed a PhD at the University of Sydney working on canine MHC genes then went abroad as a post-doctoral fellow in the Division of Immunobiology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Upon returning to Australia he established a molecular immunobiology laboratory at the Westmead Millennium Institute where he continued studies of cytokine receptor biology, signal transduction and gene expression, and control of lymphocyte response. More recently he has developed projects that apply post-genomic technologies to understanding cellular systems.

His research work has been supported by the NIH (USA), Canine Research Foundation, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, NSW Cancer Council, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Australia, the Dairy CRC, Dairy Australia, and others.

Selected Publications

  1. Fletcher J, Williamson P, Taylor RM: Clinical signs and neuropathology of globoid cell leukodystrophy (Krabbe disease) in Australian Working Kelpie dogs. JAVMA 2009, submitted.
  2. Fletcher J, Williamson P, Taylor RM: Krabbe disease in working kelpies. Orbit 2009, 1(1):58-74.
  3. Daly KA, Mailer S, Lefevre C, Digby M, Deane EM, Nicholas K, Williamson P: Molecular analysis of Tammar (Macropus eugenii) mammary cells stimulated with LPS and LTA Vet Imm Immunopath 2009, 129:36-48.
  4. Riley L, Gardiner-Garden M, Thomson P, Wynn PC, Williamson P, Raadsma H, Sheehy PA: The influence of extracellular matrix and prolactin on global gene expression profiles of primary bovine mammary epithelial cells in vitro. Animal Genetics 2009, in press
  5. Sheehy PA, Riley L, Raadsma H, Williamson P, Wynn P: A functional genomics approach to evaluate candidate genes located in a QTL interval on BTA6. Animal Genetics 2008, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2009.01862.x.
  6. Ramanathan P, Martin I, Taylor RM, Thomson P, Moran C, Williamson P: Transcriptome analysis identifies pathways associated with maternal performance in QSi5 mice. BMC Genomics 2008, 9:197.
  7. Lee CM, Gala S, Stewart GJ, Williamson P: The Proline-Rich Region of HIV-1 Nef Affects CXCR4-Mediated Chemotaxis in Jurkat T Cells. Viral Immunol 2008, 21(3):347-354.
  8. Daly KA, Digby MR, Lefevre C, Nicholas KR, Deane EM, Williamson P: Identification, characterization and expression of cathelicidin in the pouch young of tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii). Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol 2008, 149:524-533.
  9. Ramanathan P, Martin I, Thomson P, Taylor R, Moran C, Williamson P: Genomewide analysis of secretory activation in mouse models Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia 2007, 12:305-314.
  10. Gabutero E, Moore C, Mallal S, Stewart G, Williamson P: Interaction between allelic variation in IL12B and CCR5 affects the development of AIDS: IL12B/CCR5 interaction and HIV/AIDS. AIDS 2007, 21(1):65-69.