Dorothy M. Chase

Dorothy participated in research on BKD in Washington state and the Great Lakes while working in the bacteriology lab of the fish health section. Since 2014, the WFRC has been an OIE reference laboratory for BKD. As part of her role, she trained personnel from state, federal and international agencies on diagnostic tests for BKD including qPCR, PCR, ELISA and culture. Dorothy developed molecular based assays to detect and quantify Renibacterium salmoninarum, the causative agent of BKD, in fish tissues.

As a member of the Ecology section, Dorothy has used environmental DNA to identify and quantify invasive species, fish pathogens and aquatic species in sediment and water samples. She has enjoyed field work collecting environmental samples in the Lake Washington basin, Lake Sammamish basin, Puget Sound basin and her favorite the Elwha River in the Olympic National Park. As Chair of the IACUC committee, Dorothy is committed to improving the quality of care and use of animals in research at the WFRC.