MELISSA COOPER

POSTDOCTORAL SCIENTIST

melissa.cooper@nyulangone.org | @melcooperphd.bsky.social | Dr. Cooper’s website

Melissa obtained her PhD in Neuroscience with Dr. David Calkins at Vanderbilt University. 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 superresolution through whole-brain lightsheet, Melissa has characterized astrocyte networks in disease models and in homeostatic function. Melissa now aims to establish the fundamental organizational and functional properties of astrocyte networks.

Melissa has received a prestigious K99/R00 Transition Award, a BBRF Young Investigator Award, and a Leon Levy Fellowship in Neuroscience. She served as a Scientist-in-Residence at the New York Academy of Science, was President of NYU Women in Science, and has received numerous awards for her skills in scientific communication.

KEY PUBLICATIONS

(* = equal contribution)

  1. Cooper ML, Selles MC, Cammer M, Gildea H, Sall J, Chiurri KE, Saab AS, Liddelow SA, Chao MV (2025) Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic gap junctional networks bioRxiv: 2025.07.18.665573

  2. Cooper ML, Gildea HK, Selles MC, Katafygiotou E, Liddelow SA, Chao MV (2025) Astrocytes in the mouse brain respond bilaterally to unilateral retinal neurodegeneration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 122(11):e241824912. PMID: 40063795.

  3. Hasel P, Cooper ML, Marchildon AE, Rufen-Blanchette U, Kim RD, Ma TC, Groh AMR, Hill EJ, Lewis EM, Januszewski M, Light SEW, Smith CJ, Stratton JA, Sloan SA, Kang UJ, Chao MV, Liddelow SA (2025) Defining the molecular identity and morphology of glia limitans superficialis astrocytes in mouse and human. Cell Rep 44(3):115344. PMID: 39982817.

  4. 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.