Faculty

Peter Mason, Ph.D.

Professor
pwmason@utmb.edu
MMN, Route 0436
Departments of Pathology and Microbiology & Immunology
Phone: (409)747-8143
Fax:

Education:	Ph.D. | 1984 | University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA
	B.A. | 1978 | Amherst College, MA

Overview

Flavivirus (West Nile virus and dengue virus) and picornavirus (foot-and-mouth disease virus) pathogenesis and control.

Research Interests

Current research is focused on development of new methods to control acute viral diseases of man and domestic animals. Target diseases include several emerging flavivirus diseases (West Nile encephalitis (WNE), Japanese encephalitis (JE), and dengue) that are responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. Recently WNE has emerged to become the most prevalent viral encephalitis in the United States, and over 20,000 cases of JE are reported worldwide each year. Although less lethal, dengue virus infects up to 100 million people a year, causing considerable illness throughout tropical regions of the world. Effective vaccines exist for Japanese encephalitis, but these vaccines are in need of replacement, and there are no vaccines for WNE or dengue. The lab is addressing these disease problems at multiple levels, most of which are focused on developing and evaluating new vaccines. These vaccines include the RepliVAX, a unique single-cycle flavivirus that is a safe and effective vaccine candidate. The unique properties of RepliVAX make it not only an excellent vaccine, but also an invaluable tool in understanding the innate and adaptive immune responses to flavivirus infections. Studies in this latter area will help us to develop RepliVAX into a human vaccine candidate and will help us to understand broadly applicable concepts at the interface between the innate and adaptive immune responses to viral infections.

Recent Publications

Search PubMed Database for Publications

• UTMB Home Page
• Department Faculty
• Faculty by Alphabet
  • A - C
  • D - G
  • H - O
  • P - Z
• Faculty by Discipline
• Faculty by Rank
• Graduate Faculty