{"doi":"10.1242/dmm.052639","title":"Immune insights and toxicity testing: an interview with Jeff Yoder","abstract":"Jeff YoderJeff Yoder is a professor at North Carolina State University, USA, where he leads a research programme in comparative immunology. His lab employs zebrafish and cell culture models, along with transcriptomic, genomic, phylogenetic and biochemical strategies, to study the molecular and functional evolution of innate immune receptors across all vertebrate lineages. In 2014, he began developing the zebrafish as a model for immunotoxicology research and currently studies how exposure to environmental contaminants adversely impacts immune function. This includes the effects of some per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often referred to as ‘forever chemicals’, that are a source of increasing concern for human health.Jeff received his PhD in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University, USA, in 1998, working with Dr Tim Bestor on mammalian DNA methylation. As a postdoctoral fellow in Dr Gary Litman's lab at the University of South Florida, USA, Jeff shifted his research focus to comparative immunology, studying a complex family of genes encoding putative natural killer cell receptors in zebrafish. He became a faculty member at the University of South Florida before moving to North Carolina State University in 2004, where he has run a National Science Foundation- and National Institutes of Health-funded research programme for over 20 years. In 2024, Jeff was appointed Executive Director of the Genetics and Genomics Academy at North Carolina State University. The Academy works across the university to build and strengthen interdisciplinary research programmes, advance graduate training, expand genetics and genomics knowledge for all undergraduate students, and enhance state-wide outreach programmes. In this interview, we discuss fish immune systems, environmental toxicology and the impact that PFAS can have on the immune system. What made you decide to pursue a career in research?So, this goes back to high school and college for me. In high school I did well in my math and science classes but was also involved in theatre productions, both on stage and backstage, and making goofy videos with my friends at the local community television station (we volunteered to run the camera at school board meetings so we could sign out the equipment to make our videos). I honestly had a minute when I pondered the pros and cons of going to college for science or moving to Hollywood to become the next sitcom or movie star. As you might have guessed, I chose to go to college and majored in the brand-new field of biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, USA. While in college, I didn't really have a solid plan of what would come next. I assumed that I would get a job as a lab technician. Thankfully, WPI has a significant research requirement to graduate, and I found a biophysics lab at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology – which no longer exists – that would take me on for a summer research experience using fluorescence resonance energy transfer to measure the length of complementary oligonucleotides via melting curves. Since this lab was in driving distance of WPI, I convinced the lab to allow me to complete my senior thesis with them. I ended up working on cell membrane dynamics during fertilization. So, this is where I actually answer your question. A postdoc in this lab suggested that if I enjoyed research I should apply to graduate school. I initially thought there was no way I could afford to go to graduate school, but he reassured me that, in the biomedical sciences, many schools will pay you a stipend. This was amazing news to me, and I ended up applying to, I think, 11 different PhD programmes. I ended up at the Biological and Biomedical Sciences programme at Harvard Medical School with a degree in cell and developmental biology. It was really in graduate school when I realized how much I enjoyed the scientific process and discovery and that I wanted to keep doing research a","journal":"Disease Models & Mechanisms","year":2025,"id":582701,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9483,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":409230,"name":"Jeffrey A. Yoder","orcid":"0000-0002-6083-1311","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":11,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:58:59.653747Z","pmid":"41268725","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}