Claire M. Fraser Doctor of Philosophy is an American microbiologist who launched a new field of study, microbial genomics, and through her research and leadership in this field, has contributed to understanding of the diversity and evolution of microbial life on Earth.
Education
Fraser received her Bachelor of Surgery degree in Biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1977 and her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Pharmacology at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1981. She was inducted into Rensselaer"s Alumni Hall of Fame in 2011.
Career
From 1998 to 2007, Fraser was president and director of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Doctor of Medicine, and led the teams that sequenced the genomes of many important bacterial and parasitic pathogens and the first model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. Fraser’s work on the 2001 Amerithrax investigation led to the identification of four genetic mutations in the anthrax spores that enabled the Federal Bureau of Investigation to trace the material back to its original source. This effort catalyzed the development of the field of microbial forensics.
Her current research is an integral part of the Human Microbiome Project and is focused on how the structure and function of microbial communities in the human gastrointestinal tract change in association with diseases such as obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, and how these communities respond to interventions including oral vaccination and probiotics administration.
In 2007, Fraser joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine as director of the new Institute for Genome Sciences. Fraser has written more than 300 publications, edited three books, and served on the editorial boards of nine scientific journals.
She has served on many advisory panels for all the major federal funding agencies, the National Research Council, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community. She graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Surgery in biology and earned her Doctor of Philosophy in pharmacology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.