Max Dale Cooper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Max Dale Cooper
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Max Cooper at the Royal Society admissions day in London, July 2017
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| Born |
Max Dale Cooper
August 28, 1933 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Tulane University University of Mississippi Holmes Junior College |
| Known for | T cell and B cell biology |
| Spouse(s) | Rosalie Cooper |
| Awards | Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Japan Prize Robert Koch Award Sandoz Prize for Immunology |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Emory University University of Alabama at Birmingham Howard Hughes Medical Institute University of Minnesota University of California, San Francisco Hospital for Sick Children, London |
Max Dale Cooper is an American immunologist born on August 31, 1933. He is a professor at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Cooper is well-known for his important discoveries about T cells and B cells, which are special cells that help our body fight off sickness.
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Early Life and Education
Max Cooper grew up in the countryside of Mississippi. His parents were both teachers, and his father was even the head of a school. From a young age, Max was interested in becoming a physician (doctor). His father, who had always wanted to study medicine himself, encouraged him to follow this dream.
In 1951, Cooper attended Holmes Junior College on an American football scholarship. After that, he went to the University of Mississippi to prepare for medical school. In 1954, he began studying medicine at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He later transferred to Tulane University School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree (MD) in 1957.
Career in Medicine and Research
After finishing medical school, Dr. Cooper worked as an intern in a hospital in Michigan. He then continued his medical training at Tulane University. From 1960 to 1961, he worked at the Hospital for Sick Children in London. He also spent time at the University of California, San Francisco, studying allergy and immunology in children.
In 1963, Dr. Cooper joined the University of Minnesota. There, he worked with a famous scientist named Robert A. Good and started doing important research. He became an assistant professor in 1966.
A year later, he moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He became a professor in different departments, including Pediatrics and Microbiology. At UAB, he was also involved with centers that studied Cancer, Arthritis, and Cystic Fibrosis. For many years, he was also a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
In 2008, Dr. Cooper moved to Emory University in Georgia. He is now a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, working in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and at the Emory Vaccine Center. He is still a Professor Emeritus (a retired professor who keeps their title) at UAB.
From 1988 to 1989, Dr. Cooper was the president of the American Association of Immunologists, a group for scientists who study the immune system.
Discoveries About the Immune System
Dr. Cooper's research mainly focuses on the adaptive immune system. This is the part of our body's defense system that learns to recognize and fight off specific germs. He is especially known for his work on T cells and B cells.
Finding B Cells
For a long time, scientists thought that all lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) came from the thymus gland. These were called T cells. But Dr. Cooper noticed that some patients had very few lymphocytes but still had many plasma cells and antibodies, which fight infections.
He was inspired by a report about chickens. Chickens have a special organ called the bursa of Fabricius (or bursa). Dr. Cooper wondered if the bursa was responsible for making antibodies. In 1964, he did experiments on chickens. He removed either the thymus or the bursa from young chicks. Then, he used X-rays to get rid of any lymphocytes that might have already been made.
His experiments showed that chicks without a bursa could not make plasma cells or antibodies, even if their thymus was working. But chicks without a thymus could still make normal antibodies and plasma cells. This proved that there was another type of lymphocyte, made by the bursa, that was responsible for making antibodies. He called these cells B cells (B for bursa).
How B Cells Change Antibodies
Dr. Cooper also studied how B cells produce different kinds of antibodies as an animal grows. He found that a single B cell can switch from making one type of antibody (like IgM) to making other types (like IgG or IgA). This process is called immunoglobulin class switching. It means B cells can adapt to make the best type of antibody needed to fight different infections.
Where Mammals Make B Cells
Since humans and other mammals don't have a bursa, Dr. Cooper worked with another scientist, John Owen, to find out where mammals make their B cells. They discovered that in fetal mice, B cells are made in the liver. Other scientists later found that B cells are also made in the bone marrow of fetal mice. These discoveries showed that in mammals, B cells are produced in special tissues that make blood cells.
Immune System in Jawless Fish
More recently, Dr. Cooper has studied the immune system of jawless vertebrates, like lampreys and hagfish. He found that these ancient animals also have cells that work like our T cells and B cells. His team also discovered that lampreys have unique immune receptors, which are like antibodies but different. These new receptors, called variable lymphocyte receptors, might even be used in the future to help treat diseases like multiple myeloma and brain cancer.
Awards and Honors
Dr. Max Cooper has received many awards for his important scientific work:
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1988)
- Sandoz Prize for Immunology (1990)
- Member of the National Academy of Medicine (1990)
- American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award (2000)
- Robert Koch Award (2010)
- Foreign Member of the Royal Society (2017)
- Japan Prize (2018)
- Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (2019)
- Honorary Doctor of Medical Sciences from Yale University (2023)
