Thomas Friedrich
Expert on evolution, immunity, and pathogenesis (disease processes) of pandemic viruses.
Professor, Pathobiological Sciences; Virology Services unit head, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center School of Veterinary Medicine Work: 608-265-3381 tfriedri@wisc.edu Home page Twitter: @tcfriedrich
Topics
- Evolution and emergence of influenza, Zika, COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses
- Disease process (pathogenesis) in viral infections, especially influenza and Zika. Currently working on COVID-19 also.
- Immunity to viral infections
- Design and testing of antiviral vaccines, particularly for influenza
Achievements
- Discovered evolutionary "bottlenecks" in influenza virus transmission that could affect how bird flu jumps to humans
- Pioneered studies using "next-generation" sequencing to understand how seasonal influenza viruses evolve in humans
- Developed animal models for Zika virus, which helped understand how Zika is transmitted, how it evolves, and how it causes disease
- With UW SMPH colleague David O'Connor, pioneered ways to share information from experiments on pandemic viruses online in near-real-time during Zika and COVID-19 outbreaks