Robert Youker
Robert Youker is an associate professor of molecular biology in the Department of Biology at Western Carolina University. Dr. Youker earned a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Manhattan College, a master’s degree in Reproductive Biology from Johns Hopkins University, a PhD in Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Pittsburgh, and a certificate in Optical Engineering from University of California, Irvine.
His lab studies several cellular processes, including protein folding, protein degradation, and protein trafficking in mammalian cells. Disruption of these essential cellular pathways lead to devastating human diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Cystic Fibrosis. He employs quantitative fluorescence microscopy techniques to investigate these protein dynamics at few to single molecule resolution. Robert has been a reviewer for multiple scientific journals, including FEBS letters, and an external reviewer for Cystic Fibrosis Trust (UK) and Medical Research Council (UK).
He has mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students on research projects that have led to greater than thirty conference presentations. His mentees have gone on to graduate school, professional school, and industrial positions. Robert has helped to organize multiple scientific conferences including, Molecules in the Mountains (co-chair 2020), Western Carolina University Undergraduate Expo (co-chair 2015-2020), and Southern Conference Undergraduate Research Forum.
Robert was initiated into Sigma Xi in 1998 and has been actively involved at the local and national level with the Society since 2014. The Western Carolina University chapter was inactive and not in good standing when he arrived on campus. He led efforts to revive the chapter and have reinstated it to good standing. Robert has been Western Carolina University chapter president continuously from 2014. At the national level, he served on the Committee on Qualifications and Membership (2017-2023) and Committee on Nominations (2017-2020). Robert has also served as a delegate to the annual conference and a judge for the student poster competition on multiple occasions. He initiated and has conducted Science Cafes to engage the campus and local communities. His students have presented their research at the Sigma Xi Student Research Conference. Robert is thankful to Sigma Xi for its support for his students and to the university over the years.