MELISSA COOPER

POSTDOCTORAL SCIENTIST

melissa.cooper@nyulangone.org | @melcooperphd.bsky.social

Melissa received a dual Bachelors of Science in Biology and Psychology (Hons) from Florida State University, where she was also a Division-1 athlete, medaling in the ACC Finals in swimming. She studied how diet can change the structure of the olfactory system with Dr Debra Fadool. She then moved to Vanderbilt University, where she obtained her PhD in Neuroscience with Dr. David Calkins. Her work revealed that networks of astrocytes redistribute metabolic resources across the central nervous system to combat local neurodegeneration. While this protects regions that otherwise would degenerate, donor regions become vulnerable to future neurodegeneration. Her work also uncovered a unique property of astrocyte networks – they directly connect different CNS regions than those linked by neurons. This means that our understanding of neuronal networks cannot predict the structure of astrocyte networks.

As a postdoctoral fellow, Melissa has expanded upon her previous work, developing a new tool that reveals functional, in vivo astrocyte networks. Through tissue clearing, Melissa maps these networks across whole, intact brains. Combining types of microscopy ranging from single-molecule super resolution through whole-tissue lightsheet, Melissa has characterized astrocyte networks in disease models and in homeostatic function. Melissa now aims to reveal the fundamental organizational and functional properties of astrocyte networks.

Melissa is a Leon Levy Postdoctoral Fellow in Neuroscience, a Scientist-in-Residence at the New York Academy of Science, and has received numerous awards for her skills in scientific communication.

KEY PUBLICATIONS

(* = equal contribution)

  1. Cooper ML, Pasini S, Lambert WS, D'Alessandro KB, Yao V, Risner ML, Calkins DJ (2020) Redistribution of metabolic resources through astrocyte networks mitigates neurodegenerative stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 117(31):18810-18821. PMID: 32690710.

  2. Cooper ML, Crish SD, Inman DM, Horner PJ, Calkins DJ (2016) Early astrocyte redistribution in the optic nerve precedes axonopathy in the DBA/2J mouse model of glaucoma. Exp Eye Res 150:22-33. PMID: 26646560.

  3. Cooper ML, Collyer JW, Calkins DJ (2018) Astrocyte remodeling without gliosis precedes optic nerve Axonopathy. Acta Neuropathol Commun 6(1):38. PMID: 29747701.