Matthew Williams

Matthew Williams, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Pathology, Division of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Utah. He is also a member of the Cell Response and Regulation program within the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The Williams laboratory studies T cell differentiation and function in response to infections and tumors.

Following viral or bacterial infection, numerous components of the immune response play a role in recognizing, engaging and eradicating the offending pathogen. T cells are particularly central to protection from a wide variety of infections. A key hallmark of protective T cell responses is the long-lived (in many cases life-long) persistence of memory T cells after the pathogen is cleared. Because memory T cells are present at elevated frequencies and recognize the pathogen much more quickly than naïve T cells, they are able to provide rapid protection upon encountering the same pathogen a second time. While many successful vaccines of the past have relied on the development of antibody responses for their protective effect, future disease challenges will require the induction of cell-mediated protection provided by T cells. The research focus of the Williams laboratory is to understand the nature of T cell intrinsic signals, such as the T-cell receptor, and T cell extrinsic signals, such as inflammation, in promoting the ability of T cells to acquire the functions that allow them to eradicate pathogens and form long-lived immunological memory.

A major obstacle in harnessing the immune system to combat cancer is the ability of many tumors to inhibit T cell function. The Williams laboratory is engaged in pre-clinical studies as well as clinical trials of melanoma to understand the mechanisms that tumors use to suppress T-cell responses and develop strategies to circumvent them. The end goal is to improve upon existing immune-based therapies to induce long-lived, highly functional anti-tumor memory T cells that promote durable cancer remission.