Jeffrey Yoder

Bio

Dr. Jeff Yoder graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Biotechnology and performed his graduate work with Dr. Tim Bestor receiving his Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from Harvard University’s graduate program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences. He then did a post-doc with Dr. Gary Litman at the University of South Florida. Jeff was faculty at the University of South Florida before joined the faculty at NC State University in 2004.

Jeff’s current research interests are on identifying and characterizing novel mediators of innate immunity. His research employs the zebrafish model to study the genetic and functional evolution of innate immune receptors, for examining the immunotoxicological effects of environmental chemicals, and as a model for identifying novel mediators of immunity. His current studies on the evolution of immune receptors integrates genomic and transcriptomic data from all vertebrate lineages. His current immunotoxicology research employs zebrafish and cell culture models to study the impact of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on immune function. This research is highly interdisciplinary and includes collaborations with evolutionary biologists, structural biochemists, toxicologists, chemists, engineers and field biologists. His research has been funded by NIH, NIEHS, NSF, MAF, TriCEM and a variety of foundations and agencies.

In 2004 Dr. Yoder joined the faculty at NC State University (Raleigh, NC). He continues his research on comparative immunology using zebrafish as a primary animal model for immunity and infection. Detailed descriptions of his research can be found at his lab’s web site (http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jayoder/).

AFFILIATIONS

American Association of Immunologists (https://aai.org/), member
International Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunology (http://www.isdci.org/), member
International Society of Fish and Shellfish Immunology (http://isfsim.org/), member
International Zebrafish Society (http://izfs.org/), member
Zebrafish Disease Models Society (http://zdmsociety.org/), member

Area(s) of Expertise

Dr. Yoder is a leader in comparative immunology with a special focus on leveraging the zebrafish for specific questions of innate immune function in combination with human cell culture systems. The overall focus of his laboratory is on identifying novel mediators of innate immunity. Dr. Yoder's lab uses the zebrafish as a model for identifying novel mediators of immunity and for examining the immunotoxicological effects of environmental chemicals. Observations made with the zebrafish model are validated using cell culture and primary human leukocytes. He have special interests in comparative immunology, comparative genomics, immunotoxicology, genome engineering and transgenic approaches.

Publications

• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances alter innate immune function: evidence and data gaps , Journal of Immunotoxicology (2024)
• A chromosome-level genome assembly of longnose gar, Lepisosteus osseus , G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS (2023)
• Ancient Fish Lineages Illuminate Toll-Like Receptor Diversification in Early Vertebrate Evolution , (2023)
• Ancient fish lineages illuminate toll-like receptor diversification in early vertebrate evolution , IMMUNOGENETICS (2023)
• Automated, high-throughput quantification of EGFP-expressing neutrophils in zebrafish by machine learning and a highly-parallelized microscope , PLOS ONE (2023)
• Human DOCK11 Deficiency Causes Defective Erythropoiesis and Systemic Inflammation , BLOOD (2023)
• Investigating the impact of whole genome duplication on transposable element evolution in ray-finned fishes , (2023)
• Legacy and emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances suppress the neutrophil respiratory burst , JOURNAL OF IMMUNOTOXICOLOGY (2023)
• Systemic Inflammation and Normocytic Anemia in DOCK11 Deficiency , NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2023)
• A chromosome level genome assembly of longnose gar,Lepisosteus osseus , (2022)