People
Dr. Kerry Cooper
Principal Investigator
Dr. Cooper attended Sterling College on a basketball scholarship, where in 1998 he obtained his B.S. in Biology. He spent the next 3 years working as an Environmental Health Specialist at the Navajo County Health Department, focusing on foodborne outbreak investigations, food establishment inspections, and environmental health complaints. In 2001, he entered the Pathobiology Ph.D. program in the Veterinary Science and Microbiology Department at the University of Arizona. At the U of A, he conducted his doctorate research with Dr. Glenn Songer, where he focused on the pathogenesis of necrotic enteritis in poultry. After earning his Ph.D. in 2007, he spent four years as a post-doctoral fellow also at the U of A in Dr. Lynn Joens's laboratory. His post-doctoral research focused on the genomics, epidemiology and pathogenesis of the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. In 2011, he moved to the Produce Safety and Microbiology Unit of the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service in Albany, CA for a second post-doctoral fellowship, where his research focused on the comparative genomics of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. In 2013, Dr. Cooper became an Assistant Professor at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in Northridge, CA, where his research laboratory specialized in various aspects of food microbiology, particularly focusing on the genomics, epidemiology and pathogenesis of bacterial foodborne pathogens. In 2017, Dr. Cooper moved back to the University of Arizona where he started as an Assistant Professor of Food Safety and Epidemiology in the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences. Now, as an Associate Professor, he continues his research on the genomics, epidemiology and pathogenesis of bacterial foodborne pathogens, produce safety, and microbiome of various fruits and vegetables.
Education
2024 - Present - Associate Professor
Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona
2017 - 2024 - Assistant Professor
Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona
2013 - 2017 - Assistant Professor
Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge
Faculty Positions
2017 - Present - Assistant Professor
Associate Professor, Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
2013 - 2017 - Assistant Professor
Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge
Mailing Address:
ACBS Building
1117 E. Lowell St.
Tucson, AZ 85721
Lab location: ACBS Building Room 308
Documents
Current University of Arizona Cooper Lab Members
Victoria Obergh, M.S., Laboratory Manager, Research Specialist
Jared Smith, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher
Caroline Scranton, Graduate student
Dominic Rodriguez, Graduate student
Hailey Gavigan, APHL-CDC Bioinformatics Fellow
Priscilla Valenzuela, Graduate student in College of Public Health, co-mentoring
Emily Scranton, Undergraduate researcher
Sofia Annibale, Undergraduate researcher (not pictured)
Shari (Victoria) Brechbiel, Graduate student (not pictured)
Rashmeet Chandhok, Graduate student in College of Public Health, co-mentoring (not pictured)
Wyatt Davis, Undergraduate researcher (not pictured)
Christopher Haddad, Undergraduate researcher (not pictured)
Samantha Miranda, Undergraduate researcher (not pictured)
Neha Nerkar, Undergraduate researcher (not pictured)
Gem Osborne, Veterinary internship student (not pictured)
Loujine Salib, Graduate student (not pictured)
Diego Servin, Volunteer (not pictured)
Diya Setia, Undergraduate Researcher (not pictured)
Srushti Tangirala, Undergraduate Researcher (not pictured)
Former University of Arizona (UA) Graduate Students
Jennifer Bosquez, Ph.D. Center, pictured with Drs. Kerry and Margarethe Cooper
Madison Goforth, M.S.
Urmi Patel, M.S.
Former University of Arizona Cooper Lab Members
Courtney Sams, M.S., Senior Research Specialist
Jacob Robishaw-Denton, M.D., Medical student researcher
Jordan Gotwalt-Bish, M.D., Medical student researcher
Morgan Frank, Graduate student in College of Public Health
Mitchell Baker, Veterinary internship student
Riley McKenna, Veterinary internship student
Gennavive Bordeaux, Honors student
Aaike Dergance, Honors student
Nikhil Nayee, Honors student
Amy Pennington, Honors student
Claudia Pham, Honors student
Viola Rintoul, Honors student, collaborating lab
Lauren Salsburg, Honors student
Diego Servin, Honors student
Jasmine Acosta, Undergraduate researcher
Andrew Aguilera, Undergraduate researcher
Bailey Arnell, Undergraduate researcher
Taylor Brown, Undergraduate researcher
Nemanja Bogunovic, Undergraduate researcher
Maya Boyle, Undergraduate researcher
Yen-Ming Chu, Undergraduate researcher
Carmen Contreras, Undergraduate researcher
Madison Cook, Undergraduate researcher
Kiley Doherty, Undergraduate researcher
Francisco Duarte, Undergraduate researcher
Shai Forman, Undergraduate researcher
Natasha George, Undergraduate researcher
Malachi Hartsock, Undergraduate researcher
Cassidy Heiner, Undergraduate researcher
Jackie Johnson, Undergraduate researcher
Natalie Krug, Undergraduate researcher
Celia LaCross, Undergraduate researcher
Brycen Lauer, Undergraduate researcher
Michelle Leal, Undergraduate researcher
Dustin Loso, Undergraduate researcher
Christina Pham, Undergraduate researcher
Ella Randolph, Undergraduate researcher
Kailyn Rodriguez, Undergraduate researcher
Trevor Ross, Undergraduate researcher
Holland Ryberg, Undergraduate researcher
Monit Shukla, Undergraduate researcher
Hugo Suarez, Undergraduate researcher
Christian Sutherlin, Undergraduate researcher
Tracy Tabarangao, Undergraduate researcher
Josh Thier, Undergraduate researcher
Jessica Tozer, Undergraduate researcher
Lexi Tusing, Undergraduate researcher
Hazel White, Undergraduate researcher
Audrey Winkle, Undergraduate researcher
Xiaorui Zheng, Undergraduate researcher
Former California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Graduate Students
Cristina Alcaraz, M.S.
Tabitha Bayangos, M.S.
Andrew Oliver, M.S., Ph.D. (Doctorate from UC - Irvine)
Former (CSUN) Undergraduate Students
Sally Asgharzadeh
Julianny Catuy
Helen Chi
Rasheed Chowdhury
Etinosa Nosa-Ehigie
Kadir Galindo
Mahfam Golshan
Ohannes Guerbidjian
Amy Ho
Sabine Jafri
Simrat Kalsi
Salpi Kasparian
Amy Kedgulpiyapanich
Nicolas Lopez
Estefani Luna
Vahagn Militosyan
ThuHong Nguyen
Astrid Noguera
Steven Oviedo
Porscha Parker
Araksya Pogosian
Kenneth Rocha
Adan Rodriguez
Bryan Sanchez
Irina Sirota
Nayeary Sutlian
Sonia Tholberg
Dominique Zatarain
Alyssa Zuniga