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Daniel N. Frank, PhD

Assistant Professor
 

 

Phone:  303-724-5536
Email:  daniel.frank@ucdenver.edu
Address:  12700 E. 19th Avenue, Box B168
Aurora, CO  80045

Ph. D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics: University of California, San Francisco
B.S. in Honors Biology:  University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
                                            B.S. in Biochemistry:  University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

 

Dr. Frank’s research program investigates how interactions between commensal microorganisms, pathogens, and the mucosal immune system contribute to human health and disease.  His work uses a variety of culture-independent metagenomic technologies to study the mechanisms by which the human host and its associated microbial communities adapt and respond to one another.  Because imbalances in microbial populations (dysbioses) are associated with myriad diseases (e.g., Frank et al., (2007) PNAS 104(34):13780-13785), a central focus of this work concerns how such dysbioses arise, are perpetuated, and affect immune function.  Current research projects examine these issues in the context of 1) mother to child HIV transmission, 2) Staphylococcus aureus carriage and infection, and 3) inflammatory bowel disease.  On a practical note, Dr. Frank is committed to making the resources and infrastructure required for microbiome studies readily available to the research community at UC-Denver and at-large.

 

1. Frank, D.N., Roberstson, C.E., Hamm, C., Kpadeh, Z., Zhang, T., Chen, H., Zhu, W., Sartor, R.B., Harpaz, N., Pace, N.R. and Li, E.  2010.  Disease Phenotype and Genotype are Associated with Shifts in Intestinal-associated Microbiota in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.  Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  In Press.

2. Frank, D.N., Feazel, L.M., Bessesen, M.T., Price, C.S., Janoff, E.N, and Pace, N.R.  2010.  The Human Nasal Microbiota and Staphylococcus aureus Carriage.  PLoS One.  5(5):e10598.

3. Janoff, E.N and Frank, D.N. 2010.  Pathogen-specific Antibodies – Co-Dependent No Longer.  J. Clin Invest.  120(4):1039-1042.

4. Frank, D.N.  2009.  BARCRAWL and BARTAB:  Software for the Design and Implementation of Barcoded Primers for Highly Multiplexed DNA Sequencing.  BMC Bioinformatics. 10:362.

5. Frank, D.N., Wilson, S.S., St. Amand, A,L., and Pace, N.R. 2009.  Culture-independent Analysis of Foley Urinary Catheter Biofilms.  PLoS One.  4(11):e7811.

6. Feazel, L.M., Baumgartner, L.K, Peterson K.L., Frank, D.N., Harris, J.K., and Pace. N.R.  2009.  Opportunistic Pathogens Enriched in Showerhead Biofilms.  Proc Natl Acad Sci., 106(38):16393-16399.

7. Frank, D.N., Wysocki, A., Specht-Glick, D.D., Rooney, A., Feldman, R.A., St. Amand, A., Pace, N.R., and Trent, J.  2009.  Microbial Diversity in Chronic Open Wounds.  Wound Repair and Regeneration.  17:163-172. 

8. Frank, D.N. 2008.  XplorSeq:  A Software Environment for Integrated Management and Phylogenetic Analysis of Metagenomic Sequence Data.  BMC Bioinformatics.  9:420.