Roland Cooper, Ph.D.

Dr. Cooper’s research is focused on the molecular mechanism of drug action and resistance in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. His work encompasses both the laboratory and field setting. Currently, he teaches courses in genetics and biomedical parasitology. Dr. Cooper joined the faculty of Dominican University as an associate professor in 2011.

Associate Professorbw_cooper

Email: roland.cooper@dominican.edu
Office: Science Center # 220
Office Phone: (415) 482-1887
Fax:  (415) 482-1972

Academic Areas

Pharmacology, Parasitology, Genetics, Public Health

Educational Background

1997-2002 Post-Doctoral Fellow, Malaria Genetics Laboratory, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
1997 MsPH Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health. Boston, MA.
1996 Ph.D. Pharmacology & Toxicology, 1996 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
1990 M.A. Aquatic & Population Biology, 1990, University of California , Santa Barbara, CA
1986 B.A. Biological Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA


Research

Malaria, caused by the blood parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, claims about one million lives and results in hundreds of millions of clinical cases annually, primarily due to the lack of safe, affordable and efficacious drugs available for impoverished populations. Compounding the severity of the problem is the lack of an effective malaria vaccine for the foreseeable future. Antimalarial drugs still offer the best hope for reduction of morbidity and mortality associated with this disease. The foundation of my lab’s research has been the mechanistic and genomic aspects of two major classes of antimalarial drugs, the endoperoxides and the quinolines. We are also interested in the relationship between drug resistance, host immunity and HIV status in clinical outcomes of malaria patients in field studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa.


Selected Publications

Patel, J.J., Thacker, D., Tan, J.C., Pleeter, P., Checkley, L., Gonzales, J.M., Deng, B., Roepe, P.D., Cooper, R.A., Ferdig, M.T. (2010) Chloroquine susceptibility and reversibility in a Plasmodium falciparum genetic cross. Molecular Microbiolog 78, 770-87. PMID: 20807203.

Hartwig C.L., Rosenthal A.S., Angelo J.D., Griffin C.E., Posner G.H., Cooper, R.A. (2009) Accumulation of artemisinin trioxane derivatives within neutral lipids of Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites is endoperoxide-dependent. Biochemical Pharmacology 77, 322-336. PMID: 19022224.

Kelly, J.X., Smilkstein, M.J., Brun, R., Wittlin, S., Cooper, R.A., Lane, K.D., Janowsky, A., Johnson, R.A., Dodean, R.A., Winter, R., Hinrichs, D.J., Riscoe, M.K. (2009) Discovery dual function acridones as a new antimalarial chemotype. Nature 459, 270-273. PMID: 19357645.

Jiang, H., Patel, J.J., Yi, M., Ding, J., Stephens, R., Cooper, R.A., Ferdig, M.T. and Su, X-z. (2008) Genome-wide compensatory changes accompany drug-selected mutations in the Plasmodium falciparum crt gene. PLoS One 3,
e2484. PMID: 18575593.

Kelly, J.X., Smilkstein, M., Cooper, R.A., Lane, K.D., Johnson, R., Janowsky, A., Dodean, R., Hinrichs, J., Winter R. and Riscoe, M. (2007) Design, synthesis, and evaluation of 10-N-substituted acridones as novel chemosensitizers in Plasmodium falciparum. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 51, 4133-4140. PMID: 17846138.

Cooper R.A., Papakrivos, J., Lane, K.D., Fujioka, H., Lingelbach, K., and Wellems T.E. (2005) PfCG2, a Plasmodium falciparum protein peripherally associated with the parasitophorous vacuolar membrane, is expressed in the
period of maximum hemoglobin uptake and digestion by trophozoites. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 144, 167-176. PMID: 16183150.

Gligorijevic, B., Purdy, K., Elliot D.A., Cooper, R.A., and Roepe, P.D. (2008) Stage-independent chloroquine resistance and chloroquine toxicity revealed via spinning disk confocal microscopy. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 159, 7-23. PMID: 18281110.

Cooper, R.A., Lane, K.D., Deng, B., Mu, J., Patel, J. Su, X-z., Wellems, T.E., and Ferdig, M.T (2007) Mutations in transmembrane domains 1, 4 and 9 of the Plasmodium falciparum CRT alter susceptibility to chloroquine, quinine and quindine. Molecular Microbiology 63, 270-282. PMID: 17163969.

Ferdig, M.T., Cooper, R.A., Mu, J., Deng B., Joy, D.A., Su, X-z and Wellems, T.E. (2004) Dissecting the loci of low‑level quinine resistance in malaria parasites. Molecular Microbiology 52, 985-997. PMID: 15130119.

Cooper, R.A. and Carucci, D.J. Proteomic approaches to studying drug targets and resistance in Plasmodium. (2004) Current Drug Targets-Infectious Disorders 4, 41-51. PMID: 15032633.

Mu, J., Ferdig, M.T., Feng, X., Joy, D.A., Duan, J., Furuya, T., Subramanian, G., Aravind, L., Cooper, R.A., Wootton, J.C., Xiong, M., and Su, X-z. (2003) Multiple transporters associated with malaria parasite responses to chloroquine and quinine. Molecular Microbiology 49, 977-989. PMID: 12890022.

Dame, J.B., Yowell, C.A., Omara-Opyene, L., Carlton, J.M.R., Cooper, R.A. and Li T. (2003) Plasmepsin 4,  the food vacuole aspartic proteinase found in all Plasmodium spp. infecting man. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 130, 1-12. PMID: 14550891.

Cooper, R.A., Ferdig, M.T., Su, X-z., Nomura, T., Ursos, L.M.B., Fujioka, H., Roepe, P.D., Fidock, D.A. and Wellems T.E. (2002) Alternative mutations at position 76 of the vacuole membrane protein PfCRT are associated with chloroquine-resistance and unique stereospecific quinine and quinidine responses in Plasmodium falciparum. Molecular Pharmacology 61, 35-42. PMID: 11752204.

Wootton, J.C., Feng, X., Ferdig, M.T., Cooper, R.A., Mu, J.B., Liu, A., Baruch, D., Magill, A. and Su, X-z. (2002) Genetic diversity and chloroquine selective sweeps in Plasmodium falciparum. Nature 418, 320-323. PMID: 12124623.

Fidock, D.A., Nomura, T., Talley, A. K., Cooper, R.A., Dzekunov, S.M., Ferdig, M.T., Ursos, M.L.B., Sidhu, A.S., Naudé, B., Deitsch, K.W., Su, X-z., Wootton,. J.C., Roepe, P.D. and Wellems, T.E. (2000) Mutations in the P. falciparum digestive vacuole transmembrane protein PfCRT and evidence for their role in chloroquine resistance. Molecular Cell 6, 861-871. PMID: 11090624.

Fidock, D.A., Nomura, T., Cooper, R.A., Su, X-z., Talley, A.K., Wellems, T.E. (2000) Allelic modifications of the cg1 and cg2 genes do not alter the chloroquine response of drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 110, 1-10. PMID: 10989140.

Wellems, T.E., Wootton, J.C., Fujioka, H., Su, X-z., Cooper, R., Baruch, D. and Fidock, D.A. (1998) P. falciparum CG2, linked to chloroquine resistance, does not resemble Na+/H+ exchangers. Cell 94, 285-286. PMID: 9708730. Cooper, R.A., Hartwig, C.L and Ferdig M.T. (2005) pfcrt is more than the Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter; a functional and evolutionary perspective. Acta Tropica 94, 170-180. PMID: 15866507.