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Dr Matthew Yeo

BSc MSc PhD

Assistant Professor
Programme Director for MSc Control of Infectious Diseases (CID)

Room
331

LSHTM
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom

Tel.
02079272814

 

Matthew returned to academia after a first career in the phamaceutical sector, and completed his PhD at the LSHTM on the genetic diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi the causative agent of Chagas disease in 2003. Current research involves the development of transgenic technologies, for example CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive, applied to insect vectors and associated parasites funded by the Wellcome Trust. Also the mechanisms of genetic exchange, phyloepidemiology, diagnostics and control of vectors of both Leishmania and Trypanosoma cruzi.

 

 

 

Affiliations

Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
Department of Infection Biology

Teaching

Matthew is Programme Director for the Control of Infectious Disease Course. Previous Chair of the Board of Examiners (MSc Control of Infectious Diseases) and a member of the CID course committee, deputy module organiser for CID and MBID course modules. He acts as a course tutor, and undertakes and organises numerous lectures and practicals for various MSc courses and associated modules. Subjects span vector biology, diagnostics, molecular biology, parasitology, phyloepedemiology and phylogenetics. Matthew supervises PhD students and numerous visiting research fellows, interns and MSc students during their summer projects. Periodicaly involved in various outreach activities in the media, other institutes and schools (for example BBC, Natural History museum, Sci Dev.net magazine).

Research

 Matthews research interests are broad and span transgenic technologies applied to insects and associated parasites, genetic recombination, genetic diversity, population genetics, genomics, diagnostics, transmission cycles, epidemiology, ecology, vector incrimination, drug screening, and genetic diversity of Trypanasoma cruzi and also Leishmania.

Currently Matthews primary research drive is to develop the molecular tools to interrupt transmission of vector borne diseases by transgenic modification of insect vectors using new molecular tools (CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive).

  Matthews active research lines also encompass experimental models for visceral leishmania, hybrid cell lines, diagnostics and comparative genomics. He has coordinated field research in various Latin America countries and has extensive collaborations with overseas partners.  With collaborators he was the first to produce transgenic dual fluorescent hybrids of Leishmania donovani and has developed and formalised a typing scheme (SNP-MLST) for T. cruzi. With Michael Miles and others Matthew revealed the mechanism of genetic exchange in T. cruzi in a landmark Nature paper. Other work includes the resolution of ecological, vector and host associations of T. cruzi, development of an efficient drug screening assay, improved diagnostics and the application of next generation sequencing technologies to answer fundamental phyloepidemiological questions.

Research Area
Diagnostics
Insects
Parasites
Disease control
Protozoa
Vector control
Discipline
Genetic epidemiology
Genomics
Molecular epidemiology
Cell biology
Genetics
Microbiology
Molecular biology
Parasitology
Vector biology
Disease and Health Conditions
Leishmaniasis
African trypanosomiasis
Chagas Disease
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Vector borne disease
Zoonotic disease
Country
Argentina
Brazil
Ecuador
United Kingdom
Guatemala
Mexico
Nicaragua
Netherlands
Peru
Portugal
Paraguay
Sweden
Venezuela
Region
World

Selected Publications

Microevolution of Trypanosoma cruzi reveals hybridization and clonal mechanisms driving rapid genome diversification.
Matos GM; Lewis MD; Talavera-López C; Yeo M; Grisard EC; Messenger LA; Miles MA; Andersson B
2022
eLife
Comparative genomic analyses of Trypanosoma cruzi experimental hybrids
Matos GM; Lewis MD; Talavera-López C; Yeo M; Grisard EC; Messenger LA; Miles MA; Andersson B
2021
Repeat-Driven Generation of Antigenic Diversity in a Major Human Pathogen, Trypanosoma cruzi.
Talavera-López C; Messenger LA; Lewis MD; Yeo M; Reis-Cunha JL; Matos GM; Bartholomeu DC; Calzada JE; Saldaña A; Ramírez JD
2021
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Genomic analysis of natural intra-specific hybrids among Ethiopian isolates of Leishmania donovani.
Cotton JA; Durrant C; Franssen SU; Gelanew T; Hailu A; Mateus D; Sanders MJ; Berriman M; Volf P; Miles MA
2020
PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Global genome diversity of the Leishmania donovani complex.
Franssen SU; Durrant C; Stark O; Moser B; Downing T; Imamura H; Dujardin J-C; Sanders MJ; Mauricio I; Miles MA
2020
ELIFE
Comparative genomics and the improved diagnosis of trypanosomiasis and visceral leishmaniasis
Bhattacharyya T; Marlais T; Hinckel B; Mateus D; Le H; Murphy N; Fongwen N; Yeo M; Mertens P; Miles M
2019
Genomics and Clinical Diagnostics
Dissecting the phyloepidemiology of Trypanosoma cruzi I (TcI) in Brazil by the use of high resolution genetic markers.
Roman F; das Chagas Xavier S; Messenger LA; Pavan MG; Miles MA; Jansen AM; Yeo M
2018
PLoS neglected tropical diseases
See more Publications