Joao H.F. Pedra, PhD

1998                B.Sc., Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Brazil

2000                M.Sc., Agricultural Chemistry, Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Brazil       

2004                Ph.D., Entomology, Purdue University, Mentor: Barry R. Pittendrigh

2004 - 2007     Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Yale University School of Medicine, Mentor: Erol Fikrig, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

2007 - 2009     Associate Research Scientist, Yale University School of Medicine, Mentor: Erol Fikrig, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

I completed my college and Master of Science degrees in Biology and Chemistry in Brazil. Then, I immigrated to the United States and received a doctoral degree in Entomology at Purdue University where I was mentored by Dr. Barry Pittendrigh. My post-doctoral training was focused on microbial pathogenesis and immunology at Yale University under the supervision of Dr. Erol Fikrig (Chief of Infectious Diseases/HHMI Investigator). In 2009, I joined the University of California at Riverside as an independent investigator. In 2013, I relocated to the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine.

Tick-borne diseases; Arthropod Immunology; Skin Immunology; Immunometabolism; Neuroimmunology

Bacterial reprogramming of tick metabolism impacts vector fitness and susceptibility to infection. Samaddar, S., Rolandelli, A., O’Neal, A.J., Laukaitis-Yousey, H.J., Marnin, L., Singh, N., Wang, X., Butler, L.R., Rangghran, P., Kitsou, C., Cabrera Paz, F.E. Valencia, L., Ferraz, C.R., Munderloh, U.G., Khoo, B., Cull, B., Rosche, K.L., Shaw, D.K., Oliver, J., Narasimhan, S., Fikrig, E., Pal, U., Fiskum, G.M., Polster, B.M., Pedra J.H.F. Nature Microbiology. 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41564-024-01756-0. 

An atlas of human vector-borne microbe interactions reveals pathogenicity mechanisms. Hart, T.M., Sonnert, N.D., Tang, X., Chaurasia, R., Allen, P.E., Hunt, J.R., Read, C.B., Johnson, E.E., Arora, G., Dai, Y., Cui, Y., Chuang, Y-M., Yu, Q., Rahman, M.S., Mendes, M.T., Rolandelli, A., Singh, P., Tripathi, A.K., Ben Mamoun, C., Caimano, M.J., Radolf, J.D., Lin, Y-P., , Roy, C.R., Lin, Y. Fingerle, V., Margos, G., Pal, U., Johnson, R.M., Pedra, J.H.F., Azad, A.F., Salje, J., Dimopoulos, G., Vinetz, J.M., Carlyon, J.A., Palm, N.W., Fikrig, E., Ring, A.M. Cell 2024 Jun 11: S0092-8674(24)00532-4. 

Tick hemocytes have pleiotropic roles in microbial infection and arthropod fitness. Rolandelli, A., Laukaitis-Yousey, H.J., Bogale, H.N., Singh, N., Samaddar, S., O’Neal, A.J., Ferraz, C.R, Butnaru M., Mameli, E., Xia, B. Mendes, M.T., Butler, L.R., Marnin, L., Cabrera Paz, F.E., Valencia, L.M., Rana, V.S., Skerry, C., Pal, U., Mohr, S.E., Perrimon, N., Serre, D., Pedra, J.H.F. Nature Communications 2024 15(1): 2117.

Genetic manipulation of an Ixodes scapularis cell line. Singh, N., Rolandelli, A., O’Neal, A.J., Butler, L.R., Samaddar, S., Laukaitis-Yousey, H., Butnaru, M., Mohr, S.E., Perrimon, N., Pedra, J.H.F. mBio 2024 e0247923.

A ticking time bomb hidden in plain sight. Narasimhan, S., Fish, D., Pedra, J.H.F., Pal, U., Fikrig, E. Science Translational Medicine 2023 15:eadi7829.

Cholesterol contributes to risk, severity, and machine learning-driven diagnosis of human Lyme disease. Forrest, I.S., O’Neal A.J., Pedra, J.H.F., Do R. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2023 77:839-847.

Croquemort elicits activation of the immune deficiency pathway in ticks. O’Neal AJ, Singh N, Rolandelli A, Laukaitis  HJ, Wang X, Shaw DK, Young BD, Narasimhan S, Dutta S, Snyder GA, Samaddar S, Marnin L, Butler LR, Mendes MT, Paz FEC, Valencia LM, Sundberg EJ, Fikrig E, Pal U, Weber DJ, Pedra JHF. PNAS 2023 120:e2208673120.

Dome1-JAK-STAT signaling shared between parasite and host integrates vector immunity and development. Rana VS, Kitsou C, Dutta S., Ronzetti MH, Zhang M, Bernard Q, Smith AA, Tomas-Cortazar J, Yang X, Wu M-J, Kepple O, Li W, Dwyer JE, Matias J., Baljinnyam B, Oliver JD, Rajeevan N, Pedra JHF, Narasimhan S, Wang Y, Munderloh U, Fikrig E, Simeonov A, Anguita J, Pal U. Science 2023 379:eabl3837

Tick extracellular vesicles enable arthropod feeding and promote distinct outcomes of bacterial infection. Oliva Chávez AS, Wang X, Marnin L, Archer N, , Hammond HL, McClure Carroll EE, Shaw DK, Tully BG, Buskirk AD, Ford SL, Butler LR, Shahi P, Morozova K, Clement CC, Lawres L, O’Neal AJ, Ben Mamoun C, Mason KL, Hobbs BE, Scoles GA, Barry EM, Sonenshine DE, Pal U, Valenzuela JG, Sztein MB, Pasetti MF, Levin ML, Kotsyfakis M, Jay SM, Huntley JF, Miller L, Santambrogio L, Pedra JHF. Nature Communications 2021 12 (1): 3696. 

Interactions between Borrelia burgdorferi and ticks. Kurokawa C, Lynn GE, Pedra JHF, Pal U, Narasimhan S, Fikrig. Nature Reviews Microbiology 2020 18(10):587-600.

Ticks resist skin commensals with immune factor of bacterial origin. Cell 2020 183: 1562–1571. Hayes BM, Radkov AD, Yarza F, Flores S, Kim J, Zhao Z, Lexa KW, Marnin L, Biboy J, Bowcut V, Vollmer W, Pedra JHF, Chou S. Cell 2020 183: 1562–1571.

p47 licenses activation of the immune deficiency pathway in the tick Ixodes scapularis. McClure Carroll EE, Wang X, Shaw DK, O'Neal AJ, Oliva Chávez AS, Brown LJ, Boradia VM, Hammond HL, Pedra JHF. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jan 2;116(1):205-210. 

Engineering of obligate intracellular bacteria, challenges and paradigms. McClure EE, Chávez ASO, Shaw DK, Carlyon JA, Ganta RR, Noh SM, Wood DO, Bavoil PM, Brayton KA, Martinez JJ, McBride JW, Valdivia RH, Munderloh UG, Pedra JHF. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2017.

Infection-derived lipids elicit an immune deficiency circuit in arthropods. Shaw DK, Wang X, Brown LJ, Chávez AS, Reif KE, Smith AA, Scott AJ, McClure EE, Boradia VM, Hammond HL, Sundberg EJ, Snyder GA, Liu L, DePonte K, Villar M, Ueti MW, de la Fuente J, Ernst RK, Pal U, Fikrig E, Pedra JHF. Nature Communications 2017 8:14401.