معرفی
Kerry Cooper is an Associate Professor in the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences at the University of Arizona, College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on foodborne pathogens, particularly Campylobacter spp., and their impact on human and animal health. She leads the Kerry K. Cooper Research Lab, investigating bacterial virulence mechanisms, antibiotic resistance, and zoonotic transmission dynamics. Her work bridges clinical, environmental, and agricultural systems to address public health challenges.
Research interests include Campylobacter pathogenesis, epidemiology of foodborne illnesses, and microbial ecology in agricultural and wild environments. She explores how bacterial pathogens adapt to human and animal hosts, with recent studies on neonatal infections, antibiotic resistance genes, and outbreak tracing via genomic and machine learning approaches. Her lab also examines post-infectious syndromes linked to SARS-CoV-2 and the role of short-chain fatty acids in modulating pathogen behavior.
Recent publications highlight her team’s work on Campylobacter strain differentiation, wildlife reservoirs (e.g., black bears), and genomic epidemiology of viral outbreaks like Oropouche fever. They apply advanced molecular methods to track pathogen sources in food systems and urban environments, emphasizing the ‘One Health’ framework.
No scientific awards are explicitly listed, but her contributions to food safety and infectious disease research are evident through extensive collaborations and grant-funded projects. Her lab actively engages in training the next generation of microbiologists and epidemiologists, though no specific student names are provided in the text.
Lab/Team: Kerry K. Cooper Research Lab focuses on microbial pathogenesis, antibiotic resistance, and environmental health with a global health perspective.
