Dr. Andrea Cooper began her scientific career at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where she helped describe the interaction between macrophages and protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania.

Moving to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, Dr. Cooper expanded her investigation of leishmaniasis and leishmanial antigens to include the T-cell-mediated response of patients suffering from cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral forms of this disease.

Dr. Cooper then moved to the Mycobacterial Research Labs, Colorado State University and began studying the protective immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This is a pathogen with a similar lifestyle to Leishmania but one with a much greater impact on world health. Following her appointment to the faculty at Colorado State, Dr. Cooper elucidated the essential role of the Interferon-gamma [IFN-y]-Interleukin-12 [IL-12] pathway in protection from mycobacterial disease.

In January 2002, Dr. Cooper moved to the Trudeau Institute. This move allowed her to focus her investigation of the cellular immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Recent work has resulted in the definition of the roles of IL-12, IL-23 and IL-27 in both the primary and vaccine-induced immune response to this pathogen in the lung.

To contact Dr. Cooper email: acooper@trudeauinstitute.org