James R. Williamson

Dr. James R. Williamson is Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for the Kellogg School of Science and Technology at the Scripps Research Institute, where he serves as a Professor in the Departments of Molecular Biology and Chemistry, and is a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology. Williamson's research involves the study of RNA structure, RNA-protein interactions, and RNA-ligand interactions using biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology approaches. He has made seminal contributions to understanding the process of ribosome assembly by using an innovative and broadly based biophysical approach. Williamson developed novel mass spectrometry methods to measure assembly kinetics in real time. These isotope pulse-chase experiments provided evidence for a statistical assembly mechanism during late stages of assembly that overturned the conventional view that assembly proceeded through a specific bottleneck intermediate. He also determined some of the first structures of RNA-peptide complexes, including the HIV TAR-arginine complex and the HIV Rev-RRE complex. The methods that he developed resulted in some of the first RNA folding studies on the Group I intron, a large, highly structured RNA molecule. Williamson’s papers appear in prominent journals including Cell, Nature, and Molecular Systems Biology.