Dr Jayme de Souza Neto

Biography

Dr. Jayme de Souza Neto is a Reader in Vector-Pathogen Interactions in the Department of Vector Biology. He earned a BSc in Biological Sciences (Biotechnology) from State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro and completed his PhD in Genetics at Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), both in Brazil. Jayme then moved to the USA to pursue a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he investigated the mosquito’s defences against parasites and viruses that cause vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue. He was a recipient of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship (2009-2011) and the Gorgas Memorial Institute Research Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2009).

Back to Brazil in 2011, following a brief period at Fiocruz, Jayme became a FAPESP Young Investigator and Assistant Professor at UNESP and established an independent research program focused on studying the interactions between vectors and human pathogens of local/regional relevance. He led a pioneering effort focused on using functional genomics to study Anopheles darlingi and Plasmodium vivax interactions, the principal malaria vector and parasite in South America. Jayme was also a co-recepient of a research award from the International Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) focused on the study of adaptive immunity of mosquitoes to arboviruses.

Jayme moved to Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2022 where he expanded his research program to incorporate high-consequence arboviruses like Rift Valey fever virus, microbial genomics and NGS diagnostics. At KSU, he played important leadership roles as Section Head for NGS diagnostics and as Assistant Director of the NIH Centre of Excellence in Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (CEZID). In 2026, Jayme moved to LSTM where his group continues to investigate the molecular and cellular interactions between mosquitoes and emerging/re-emerging human and zoonotic pathogens.

As a native from Brazil and having collaborations in many countries that are endemic for vector-borne diseases, Jayme has lived experience and a genuine interest with working at field sites. He is an advocate of “science for society” and participated as a Young Leader and Delegate in the Science and Technology for Society Forum (STS forum) in Kyoto from 2014-2018. Jayme also supported FAPESP’s Zika Virus Research Program serving as Area Coordinator for Vector studies (2016-2017) and Brazil’s State of Sao Paulo during the Covid-19 pandemic serving as coordinator of UNESP’s Genomic Surveillance Network.

Research interests

Jayme has a broad interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms that allow mosquitoes to transmit viral and parasitic diseases like malaria, dengue, West Nile fever, Rift Valey fever, among others.  His ultimate goal is to use this knowledge to develop tools that can help control vector-borne diseases.

Research in the Systems Vector-Pathogen Interaction Group led by Jayme uses an integrated systems-level approach to investigate how a mosquito responds to infection and fights the pathogen. This involves the study of complex reciprocal interactions between the mosquito, the pathogen, and microbes that live in the mosquito gut. The group’s research focuses on the following areas:

• Mosquito’s immune and metabolic responses to human and zoonotic pathogens.
• Comparative vector competence and vector-pathogen-microbiome interaction studies in ecologically and regionally relevant systems.
• Genetic- and microbiome-driven manipulation of mosquito vector competence to block disease transmission.
• Development of laboratory infection/transmission models for Plasmodium vivax malaria and emerging high-consequence arboviruses.

The group maintains strategic collaborative activities with Imperial College London in the UK; Kansas State University and the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (USDA) in the USA; Sao Paulo State University, Butantan Institute and Fiocruz in Brazil; the University of Pavia in Italy; and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Organization (KALRO) in Kenya.

Teaching

Jayme will be contributing to the MSc module TROP723 “Key Aspects of molecular and cellular biology of pathogens and vectors”, introducing the students to the general aspects of mosquito immunity and transcriptional responses to pathogens.

Selected research publications

Targeted Whole Genome Sequencing of African Swine Fever Virus and Classical Swine Fever Virus on the MinION Portable Sequencing Platform – Journal: Pathogens – Published: 13th August 2025

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