Cooper named fellow of American Society for Cell Biology
Biochemist regarded for characterizing key processes involved in cell movement
Cooper
John Cooper, MD, PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolfe Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been elected a fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). This year Cooper was one of 17 across the country whose nomination was approved by the society’s council.
Cooper, who is also a professor of cell biology and physiology, investigates the proteins and processes involved in how cells move and retain their shape. These functions are crucial to cell motility, structural integrity and cell division, which in turn have particular relevance to immune responses, cancer cell proliferation and embryonic development. Cooper characterized several of the key proteins involved in these processes, including a protein that stabilizes actin, part of the cytoskeleton. He and his colleagues have gone on to identify ways to regulate these proteins and in doing so have provided insights into how cell growth is controlled and can go awry in conditions such as cancer.
Cooper was awarded WashU’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Graduate Student Teaching in 2010 and was elected as a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science in 2017.
