Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center / Professor, University of Washington
University of Washington
1100 Fairview Ave North
E4-100
Seattle,
WA
USA
98109
dfredric@fredhutch.org
Biographical Sketch:
Dr. Fredricks is an infectious disease physician, microbiologist, and molecular biologist with more than 20 years of research experience. He has led a research team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington for the last 15 years that has focused on the study of human microbial communities using both cultivation-independent molecular methods (such as PCR and FISH), and in vitro cultivation approaches. The lab strives to advance our understanding of how the indigenous microbiota impacts human health, and to use this knowledge to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools. For example, they have developed a platform for broad-range 16S rRNA gene PCR coupled with high-throughput sequencing and phylogenetic analysis for taxonomic identification of bacteria in human samples. This platform provides data on representation and relative abundance of bacterial species at fine taxonomic resolution (species level). They have also developed a panel of taxon-directed quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays to measure concentrations of bacteria and how they change over time and under different influences. Some of these PCR assays have demonstrated utility in diagnosing bacterial vaginosis (BV) when compared to gold standard approaches such as Gram stain with assessment of bacteria morphotypes. They have also used novel cultivation approaches for laboratory propagation of fastidious vaginal bacteria associated with BV.