Professor Anna-Lise Williamson
Affiliations
- Full Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
Key Expertise
Vaccine Development
Main Research Focus
Professor Anna-Lise Williamson is Professor Emerita and a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She held the South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI) Chair in Vaccinology from 2008 to 2022 and has been rated B1 by the National Research Foundation across three successive cycles. She has a Google Scholar H-index of 64, more than 250 peer-reviewed publications, and supervised /cosupervised 32 doctoral and 25 master's students to completion. Her career, spanning more than four decades, has been defined by a commitment to translational science — research that moves from laboratory to policy, and from bench to community. Her work was shaped by two imperatives that have driven South African biomedical research: the need to address locally dominant infectious diseases and the challenge of building rigorous scientific capacity in a resource-constrained environment.
Her work on human papillomavirus (HPV) biology has contributed substantially to the evidence base for cervical cancer prevention across sub-Saharan Africa. She continues to work on the development of HIV vaccines – two of which have been tested in clinical trials. Her engagement with veterinary vaccinology, meanwhile, reflects a One Health perspective that has gained renewed global salience in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her group developed novel SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates validated in a hamster challenge model, and, in response to South Africa's recent foot-and-mouth disease epidemic, has produced
combined lumpy skin disease and foot-and-mouth disease vaccine candidates that have demonstrated neutralising antibodies in guinea pigs — results that now justify testing in cattle
Most Significant Paper Authored in 2025
Chege, G.K., Chapman, R.E., Keyser, A.T., Adams,C.H., Benn, K., van Diepen, M.T., Douglass, N., Lambson, B., Hermanus, T., Moore, P.L., Williamson, A.L.
Five Rhesus Macaques received a DNA/MVA prime-boost regimen expressing SIV Gag and HIV-1 Env, followed by soluble gp140 Env protein boosts -two DNA, followed by two MVA, and finally with two Env vaccines. All animals developed moderate IFN-γ ELISpot responses and post-Env neutralising antibodies. Vaccinated animals were not protected against SHIV acquisition but showed markedly accelerated viraemia control compared to unvaccinated controls (median 2 vs 8.5 weeks of detectable viraemia). The regimen elicited robust cellular and functional humoral immune responses that, while insufficient to prevent infection, substantially reduced the duration of viraemia.