Deborah Williamson

• Deborah Williamson

  Professor

  deborah.williamson@unimelb.edu.au
  

Research Overview

Professor Deborah Williamson is an honorary professor at the Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne. The Williamson research group focuses on the development and application of diagnostic technologies, including genomics, to infectious diseases. Our research has directly influenced the way microbiology is applied to clinical practice and public health, including responses to antimicrobial resistance, sexually-transmitted pathogens and COVID-19.

Our research interests include the diagnosis and molecular epidemiology of infections caused by antimicrobial resistant pathogens, particularly sexually-transmitted infections and emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and mpox. Another of our focuses is pathogen genomics including metagenomic next generation sequencing (mNGS) direct from clinical samples for rapid pathogen identification to be used in clinical care and public health monitoring.

View Professor Williamson's latest PubMed publications listing here.

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Staff

Prof Deborah Williamson, Honorary Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases, Melbourne Medical School

Dr Shivani Pasricha, Senior Research Fellow

Dr Prashanth Ramachandran, Clinical Metagenomics Research Fellow

Dr Gina Pollock, Research Fellow

Dr Soo Jen Low, Research Officer – Bioinformatics

Marcelina Krysiak, Research Support Officer

Kirti Deo, Sequencing Support Officer

Janath Fernando, Research Support Officer - Genomics

Jacqueline Prestedge, Research Program Manager

Simran Chahal, Project Support Officer

Mona Taouk, PhD student

Eloise Williams, PhD Student

Franca Azzato, PhD Student

Collaborators

Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL)

Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory (MDU)

Royal Melbourne Hospital

Melbourne Sexual Health Centre

Department of Health, Victoria

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI)

Funding

2020 – 2024 NHMRC Investigator Grant ($1,393,588). Applying pathogen genomics to the prevention and control of antimicrobial resistance. D Williamson.

2021-2024 MRFF Pathogen Genomics Grant ($6,984,360). META-GP: Delivering a clinical metagenomics platform for Australia. Williamson D

2021-2024 MRFF Pathogen Genomics Grant ($9,999,499). Precision Public Health Pathogen Genomics. Howden B

2022-2026 NHMRC Partnership Project ($1,256,040). Novel strategies for improving syphilis testing and control. M Chen, D Williamson, J Hocking, E Chow, M Temple-Smith, J Ong, J Tomnay, C Fairley, L Zhang, J Kaldor.

2022-2026 Commonwealth Blood Borne Viruses (BBV) and Sexually Transmissible Infections (STI) Research Program  ($1,732,239). Enhancing testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted infections through novel CRISPR point-of-care diagnostics. D Williamson,  J Hocking, R Guy, M Chen, K Fairley.

2022-2025 MRFF ($2.3M). CURE-NG: A human challenge model to develop new treatments for gonorrhoea. J McCarthy, D Williamson, L Keogh, S Lewin.

2020-2024 NHMRC Partnership Grant ($537,855). Developing and implementing an ethical framework for HIV phylogenetic analysis in Australia. Lewin SR, Williamson D, Wright E, Fairley C, Hocking J, Ward J, Keogh L, Crouch S, Alpren C

2021-2025 ARC ITRP Research Hub to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance ($5 million).

2021-2023: DFAT IndoPacLab ‘Integrated laboratory support for high impact infectious diseases in the Indo-Pacific region during the COVID-19 era’ ($5,204,667).

2020-2021 NHMRC MRFF Grant ($2,699,278). COVID-19 Strategic Planning and Delivery of Testing. Lewin SR, Howden B, Stinear T, Williamson D, Catton M, Monk I, Guerillot R, Lee J, Sherry N, Bond K.

Research Opportunities

This research project is available to Masters by Research to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.

Research Publications

View Professor Williamson's latest PubMed publications listing here.