Colin C. Pritchard MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine
Associate Director, Clinical Molecular Genetics Laboratory
The Pritchard laboratory is focused on two areas related to cancer molecular diagnostics:
1) microRNA as blood-based biomarkers
MicroRNA are a class of small RNAs that regulate gene expression. The recent discovery that microRNA are abundant and surprisingly stable in plasma serum has prompted a flurry of research into the potential of microRNA as non-invasive cancer biomarkers. Yet little is known about the origin of circulating microRNA or what factors influence circulating microRNA levels. Our lab seeks to understand which cells contribute to circulating microRNA and to characterize mechanisms that lead to microRNA release into the circulation. The laboratory is also investigating pre-analytic and biological variation that impact serum and plasma microRNA measurements. This research will inform the appropriate use and interpretation of future microRNA-based blood tests.
2) Cancer molecular diagnostics development for personalized medicine
A second focus of the Pritchard laboratory is to develop innovative molecular diagnostics for the detection of germline and somatic mutations that guide therapeutic decision making. The laboratory has effectively applied technologies such as COLD-PCR to provide highly-sensitive clinical assays for somatic mutation detection. We are currently focused on translating next-generation sequencing technology into clinical practice. As one example, the lab has developed and validated the "ColoSeq" assay, which is clinically available at the University of Washington as of November 2011. Other clinically available assays developed by the Pritchard group include KRAS, BRAF, EGFR, IDH, KIT and PDGFRA mutational analysis.
Investigator
Dr. Pritchard is an Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine. He is also the associate director of the clinical molecular genetics laboratory in Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington Medical center, where he focuses on oncology molecular diagnostics.
Representative recent publications
- Pritchard C, Grady W. Colorectal cancer molecular biology moves into clinical practice. Gut (2010), 60:116-29.
- Pritchard C, Tait F., Buller-Burckle A, Mikula M. Annotation error of a common Beta0-thalassemia mutation (619 bp-deletion) has implications for molecular diagnosis. Amer. J Hem. (2010) 85:978.
- Pritchard C, Akagi L, Reddy P, Joseph L, Tait J. COLD-PCR Enhanced Melting Curve Analysis Improves Diagnostic Accuracy For KRAS Mutations. BMC Clin. Path. (2010) 10:6.
- Arroyo J, Kroh E, Ruf E, Chevillet J, Gibson D, Pritchard C, Tait J, Tewari M. Argonaute2 complexes and vesicles carry distinct populations of circulating microRNAs in human plasma. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (2011) 108:5003-8. PMID:21383194
- Pritchard C, Kroh E, Wood K, Arroyo J, Miyagi M, Dougherty K, Tait J, Tewari M. Blood Cell Origin of Circulating MicroRNA: A Cautionary Note for Cancer Biomarker Studies. (2011) Cancer Prevention Research, In Press.
Last updated: 10/31/11