News

2022 Funding:

  1. Cooper laboratory part of $407,697 grant from Center for Produce Safety to conduct microbiological risk assessment using QMRA in preharvest agriculture water treatment systems for leafy greens.

2021 Funding:

  1. Cooper laboratory part of $1.75 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish sequencing technologies in Peru for determining SARS-CoV-2 variants in clinical samples. 

  2. Cooper laboratory and University of Arizona collaborators awarded $322,000 grant from the Center for Produce Safety to conduct microbial characterization of irrigation waters using rapid, inexpensive, and portable next generation sequencing technologies. 

  3. Cooper laboratory and University of Arizona collaborators awarded $240,157 grant from the Arizona Department of Agriculture to study the die-off rates of Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains in soils from Arizona leafy greens fields.

  4. Cooper laboratory and University of Arizona collaborators awarded $242,960 grant from the Arizona Department of Agriculture to develop an Arizona-specific microbial index for on-site validation and verification of antimicrobial wash water systems for leafy greens industry in Arizona.

2020 Funding:

  1. Cooper laboratory part of $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the genomic epidemiology of Campylobacter in low and middle income countries.

2019 Funding:

  1. Cooper laboratory part of $400k grant from the Center for Produce Safety (CPS) to study the impact of disinfecting irrigation water on pathogens and agricultural microbiomes.

  2. Cooper laboratory part of $50k grant from University of Arizona Research, Discovery and Innovation (RDI) to assess the public health risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria from daily sewage spills along the Mexico-Arizona border.

2018 Funding:

  1. Cooper laboratory receives $89k grant from the Center for Produce Safety (CPS) to study the evolution of bacterial foodborne pathogens in different agricultural environments.

  2. Cooper laboratory part of $25K grant from University of Arizona Research, Discovery and Innovation (RDI) to establish an animal model for post-infectious IBS.

2017 Funding:

  1. Cooper laboratory part of $4.5 million grant from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study the microbiome of different types of melons and determine the prevalence of foodborne pathogens directly in melon fields at point of harvest.

Student Presentations (Reverse Chronological Order):

3rd year Doctorate student Jennifer Mydosh was awarded a Student Travel Scholarship to 2022 IAFP Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.

3rd year Doctorate student Jennifer Mydosh presenting her scientific poster at 2022 IAFP Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.

Accelerated master's student Madison Goforth was awarded a Student Travel Scholarship to 2022 IAFP Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.

Accelerated master's student Madison Goforth presenting her scientific poster at 2022 IAFP Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.

 

Former Cooper laboratory undergraduate researcher, Kiley Doherty, who recently received her Master's degree in Public Health from University of California, Berkeley was award Dave Theno Food Safety Fellowship at 2022 IAFP Annual Meeting in Pittsburg, PA.

Cooper Lab Member in the 2022 News:

News article about graduate student Madison Goforth from the Cooper Lab, and all of her amazing accomplishments:

https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/uarizona-senior-dreams-of-making-a-difference-when-it-comes-to-healthy-eating-across-the-world

 

Lauren Salsburg's Poster at the Honors College 2022 Symposium

Lauren Salsburg's Poster Presentation at the 2022 Honors College Symposium

 

Several Cooper laboratory students presented at the 2021 University of Arizona Food Safety Consortium Virtual Conference:

Madison Goforth - Watch her video poster presentation

Cassidy Heiner - Watch her video poster presentation

Jennifer Mydosh - Watch her video poster presentation

 

Jacob Robishaw-Denton's Food Safety Consortium Virtual Meeting Poster, 2020
Jacob Robishaw-Denton, U of A Undergraduate researcher, Food Safety Consortium Virtual Meeting Poster, 2020

 

Five Cooper laboratory CSUN students presented posters and one gave a talk at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).
Tabitha Bayangos, CSUN graduate student presents a poster at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).

 

Five Cooper laboratory CSUN students presented posters and one gave a talk at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).
Kadir Galindo, CSUN student gives a talk at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).

 

Five Cooper laboratory CSUN students presented posters and one gave a talk at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).
Bryan Sanchez, CSUN student presents a poster at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).

 

Five Cooper laboratory CSUN students presented posters and one gave a talk at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).
Ohannes Guerbidjian, CSUN student presents a poster at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).

 

Five Cooper laboratory CSUN students presented posters and one gave a talk at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).
Kadir Galindo, CSUN student presents poster at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).

 

Five Cooper laboratory CSUN students presented posters and one gave a talk at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).
Nicolas Lopez, CSUN student presents poster at ASM Microbe 2017 (New Orleans).

 

One Cooper laboratory CSUN graduate student presented a poster at ASM Microbe 2016 (Boston).
 Andrew Oliver, CSUN graduate student presented a poster at ASM Microbe 2016 (Boston).​​​​​

 

Dr. Cooper's External Presentations Last 3 years (Reverse Chronological):

  1. Oral presentation - "Watching what you eat: Biosurveillance of foodborne pathogens", Arizona Biosecurity Conference, October 2022.

  2. Oral presentation - "Characterizing the microbiome of fruits and vegetables to address food safety issues", USDA, ARS, WRRC Seminar Series, May 2022.

  3. Oral presentation - "Survivability and evolution of bacterial foodborne pathogens in different agricultural environments", University of Arizona One Health Symposium, May 2022.

  4. Oral presentation - "AG water treatment webinar", Center for Produce Safety (CPS) Research Symposium Webinar Series, August 2021. Link to webinar: https://www.centerforproducesafety.org/webinars.php

  5. Oral presentation - "Illuminating the role of whole genome sequencing in produce safety", Center for Produce Safety (CPS) Research Symposium Webinar Series Session IV, July 2021. Link to webinar: https://www.centerforproducesafety.org/webinars.php

  6. Oral presentation - "Illuminating the role of whole genome sequencing in produce safety", Center for Produce Safety (CPS) Research Symposium Webinar Series Session IV, July 2020. Link to webinar: https://www.centerforproducesafety.org/annual_research_symposium.php

  7. Oral presentation - "Comparative genomics of Campylobacter jejuni producing different diarrheal pathotypes", Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Related Organisms (CHRO) Meeting, Belfast, Northern Ireland, September 2019.

  8. Poster presentation - "Characterization of tree fruit bacterial communities during harvest", International Food Protection Association (IAFP) Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY, July 2019. Link to poster

  9. Poster presentation - "Characterization of tree fruit bacterial communities during harvest", Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics Meeting, Lake Arrowhead, CA, September 2018. Link to poster

  10. Oral presentation - "Role of whole genome sequencing in foodborne outbreaks", YUM! Produce Industry Meeting, Monterey, CA, July 2018.

  11. Oral presentation - "Role of whole genome sequencing in food safety", Taco Bell Annual Supplier Meeting, Irvine, CA, April 2018.