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Brandon S. Cooper
Assistant Professor (2016- ), PhD Indiana University-Bloomington brandon . cooper AT umontana . edu I am an Assistant Professor interested in population biology and evolutionary genetics. Prior to my current role, I was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at UC Davis with Prof. Michael Turelli. Most of my work focuses on explaining the spread and maintenance of Wolbachia infections in insects. I also enjoy thinking about hybridization/introgression, reproductive isolation, and other evolutionary/population/genetic problems. Google Scholar CV |
the gang
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Chelsey Caldwell
MPH student Chelsey started in the lab as a UM undergraduate and works mostly with Mike Hague on projects seeking to identify and understand Wolbachia effects on host physiology, behavior, and fitness. Chelsey recently published a paper at mBio showing that Wolbachia have pervasive effects on host temperature preference. Papers: Hague, Caldwell, and Cooper 2020 |
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Will Conner
Bioinformatics Research Assistant, Cat wrangler, BS UC Davis Will evaluates modes of Wolbachia acquisition and patterns of genomic variation in many Wolbachia-infected host species. More generally, Will is involved in almost all of the computational work in the lab, and his expertise is crucial to the progress we are making in several systems. Papers: too many to keep up with anymore. |
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Michael T.J. Hague
Postdoctoral Fellow, PhD U Virginia Website Mike joined our group after completing his dissertation research in Butch Brodie's lab at UVA, and he is broadly interested in coevolution and interactions between species. Mike's postdoctoral work is evaluating Wolbachia effects on host phenotypes and fitness in several systems. He is interested in connecting patterns of genetic and cellular variation to phenotypes that influence Wolbachia spread in nature. |
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Emily Hamant
Postbac researcher, BS U Montana Emily joined our group after completing her honors thesis research with Prof. Art Woods here at UM. Emily is working with Dylan Shropshire on projects focused on dissecting how much and why the strength of cytoplasmic incompatibility varies among Wolbachia-infected host systems. Emily is generally interested in conservation, and in our lab she is learning lots of genetics that she can later apply to conservation topics in graduate school. |
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Erin Markham
Undergraduate researcher, U Montana Erin is a Junior studying Evolution & Genetics. She joined our group in the fall of 2020 to get research experience and to see what areas of science interest her. In the very short time she's been in the lab, Erin has generated a large dataset on how temperature influences CI strength. She is collaborating with postdocs Dylan Shropshire and Mike Hague on the project, which is part of our broader goal of understanding how much and why CI varies in strength. |
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Dylan Shropshire
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, PhD Vanderbilt U Website Dylan is an NSF postdoctoral fellow in our lab broadly focused on evaluating the genetic and mechanistic basis of CI-strength variation in divergent Wolbachia-infected Drosophila host systems. This work builds on Dylan's impressive dissertation work in the Bordenstein lab at Vanderbilt that contributed to the discovery of genes that induce and rescue CI. |
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John Statz
CMMB Graduate Student, BS U Minnesota Duluth John joined our group as a PhD student in the spring of 2021. John is broadly interested in host-microbe interactions and molecular evolution. John's prior research involved developing primate models for human diseases using CRISPR/Cas9. We are excited to see where John's ideas take him. |
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Kelley Van Vaerenberghe
EE Graduate Student, BS U Ottawa Kelley joined our group after working as a lab manager with Justin Blumenstiel at U Kansas for several years. In the Blumenstiel lab Kelley developed genetic tools to test evolutionary hypotheses about piRNA machinery function. Kelley is broadly interested in genomic conflict and excited to dive into host-Wolbachia interactions. Papers: Hemmer et al. 2020 |
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Tim Wheeler
Senior Researcher, BS & MS U Montana Website Tim recently finished an MS in John McCutcheon's lab working on the taxonomy of lichens. Tim is an amazing naturalist and brings a lot of knowledge to the lab with emphasis on fungi in and around western Montana. Tim is also a fantastic photographer. See more here. |
Honorary members
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Francis JH (and Janet)
F1 Research interests: reading, puzzles, trains, but mostly Janet Training: We are working on it. |
Gone, but not forgotten...
Lindsay Axelrod, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently in industry
Jessica Bailey, Laboratory Technician/Rotation grad, U Montana
Jennifer Blanc, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently PhD student at U Chicago
Peter Burkard, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently in medical school
Nick Fisher, Undergraduate, Indiana University, currently in medical school
Paul Ginsberg, Research Technician, UC Davis, currently a PhD student at U Georgia
Madilyn Head, Research Technician, U Montana, currently a technician in the Secor lab at UM
Isaac Humble, Undergraduate, U Montana, currently living the dream in Hawaii
John Kaiser, Rotation grad, currently at FYR Diagnostics
Andy Katznelson, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently a graduate student at U Cambridge
Kevin Kim, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently a research technician with Michael Turelli
Maria Kirby, Laboratory Technician, U Montana, currently applying to Pharmacy school
Catherine Mayo, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently in industry
Megan Meany, Laboratory Manager, U Montana, currently a PhD student at U Georgia
Dawit Mengistu, Laboratory Technician, U Montana, currently a researcher in the Secor lab at UM
Huong Nguyen, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently an MS student at UC Berkeley
Paighton Noel, Undergraduate/postbac, U Montana, currently in med school at the University of Utah
Jasmine Osei-Enin, Undergraduate, McNair Scholar, UC Davis, currently a researcher in Grace Lee's lab
Brooke Peckenpaugh, Research Technician, UC Davis, currently a PhD student at Indiana U
Sophia Richter, High school researcher, U Montana, currently an undergraduate at Princeton
Federica Sartori, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently a PhD student at NYU
Signe White, Research Technician, Indiana University, currently a PhD student at Emory U
Luna dog. RIP
Jessica Bailey, Laboratory Technician/Rotation grad, U Montana
Jennifer Blanc, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently PhD student at U Chicago
Peter Burkard, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently in medical school
Nick Fisher, Undergraduate, Indiana University, currently in medical school
Paul Ginsberg, Research Technician, UC Davis, currently a PhD student at U Georgia
Madilyn Head, Research Technician, U Montana, currently a technician in the Secor lab at UM
Isaac Humble, Undergraduate, U Montana, currently living the dream in Hawaii
John Kaiser, Rotation grad, currently at FYR Diagnostics
Andy Katznelson, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently a graduate student at U Cambridge
Kevin Kim, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently a research technician with Michael Turelli
Maria Kirby, Laboratory Technician, U Montana, currently applying to Pharmacy school
Catherine Mayo, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently in industry
Megan Meany, Laboratory Manager, U Montana, currently a PhD student at U Georgia
Dawit Mengistu, Laboratory Technician, U Montana, currently a researcher in the Secor lab at UM
Huong Nguyen, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently an MS student at UC Berkeley
Paighton Noel, Undergraduate/postbac, U Montana, currently in med school at the University of Utah
Jasmine Osei-Enin, Undergraduate, McNair Scholar, UC Davis, currently a researcher in Grace Lee's lab
Brooke Peckenpaugh, Research Technician, UC Davis, currently a PhD student at Indiana U
Sophia Richter, High school researcher, U Montana, currently an undergraduate at Princeton
Federica Sartori, Undergraduate, UC Davis, currently a PhD student at NYU
Signe White, Research Technician, Indiana University, currently a PhD student at Emory U
Luna dog. RIP
You?
We value diverse ideas and experiences and would love for you to join our collaborative environment. Please contact me directly for information about current openings.
Brandon S. Cooper
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr. HS 104
Missoula, MT 59812
brandon.cooper AT mso.umt.edu
We value diverse ideas and experiences and would love for you to join our collaborative environment. Please contact me directly for information about current openings.
Brandon S. Cooper
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr. HS 104
Missoula, MT 59812
brandon.cooper AT mso.umt.edu