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. He was born on August 31, 1933. He is a professor at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Cooper is famous for his work on two important types of immune cells: T cells and B cells. These cells are key parts of our body's defense system.
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Early Life and Education
Max Cooper grew up in a small town in Mississippi. His father was a school superintendent. His mother was a teacher. He lived with his family right on the school campus.
From a young age, Max wanted to be a physician. His father, who also wanted to study medicine, encouraged him. Max went to Holmes Community College from 1951 to 1952. He attended on an American football scholarship. After that, he studied pre-medical courses at the University of Mississippi.
In 1954, Cooper began medical school at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He later transferred to Tulane University School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree (MD) in 1957.
Career Highlights
After medical school, Dr. Cooper completed an internship. He then did a residency at Tulane University. From 1960 to 1961, he worked at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. He was a research assistant there. Later, he became a fellow in pediatric allergy and immunology. This was at the University of California, San Francisco.
In 1963, Dr. Cooper joined the University of Minnesota. He worked with a famous scientist named Robert A. Good. There, he 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 the Division of Immunology and Allergy. He also worked in the Department of Microbiology. Dr. Cooper was involved with several research centers at UAB. These included centers for Cancer, Arthritis, and Cystic Fibrosis. He also worked at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
In 2008, Dr. Cooper moved to Emory University in Georgia. He joined the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He is also a professor at the Winship Cancer Institute. He works at the Emory Vaccine Center too. Dr. Cooper was the president of the American Association of Immunologists from 1988 to 1989.
Discovering Immune Cells
Dr. Cooper's research mainly focuses on the adaptive immune system. This is the part of our body's defense that learns to fight specific germs. He is especially known for his work on T cells and B cells.
In 1961, another scientist, Jacques Miller, found that the thymus gland was important for immunity. Scientists at the time thought there was only one type of immune cell called lymphocytes. They believed these cells all came from the thymus.
Dr. Cooper was studying patients with Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome. These patients had few lymphocytes. But they had many plasma cells and antibodies. This observation made him curious. Antibodies were thought to come from T cells.
Chicken Experiments
Dr. Cooper was inspired by a report about chickens. It suggested that a part of chickens called the bursa of Fabricius (or bursa) might make antibodies. In 1964, he did experiments on chickens. He wanted to find out what the thymus and bursa did.
He removed either the thymus or the bursa from young chicks. Then, he used X-rays to kill any immune cells already present.
His experiments showed clear results:
- Chicks without the bursa did not make plasma cells or antibodies. They also lacked germinal centers. This was true even though their thymus was fine.
- Chicks without the thymus had low levels of lymphocytes. But they still made normal antibodies, plasma cells, and germinal centers.
These experiments proved that the bursa makes a different type of lymphocyte. These cells are now known as B cells. They are responsible for making antibodies.
Antibody Production
Dr. Cooper also studied how B cells make different kinds of antibodies. He found that B cells can switch the type of antibody they produce. This happens at different stages of development. For example, they might switch from making IgM to IgG or IgA. This process is called immunoglobulin class switching. It showed that one type of B cell can change its antibody production.
Finding B Cells in Mammals
Dr. Cooper worked with John Owen from the UK. They did experiments to find where B cells are made in mammals. They discovered that B cells are produced in the liver of fetal mice. Other scientists, Pierre Vassalli and Gustav Nossal, also found that B cells are made in the bone marrow of fetal mice. These discoveries showed that special tissues in mammals create B cells.
Jawless Fish Research
More recently, Dr. Cooper has studied the immune system of jawless vertebrates. These animals include lampreys and hagfish. He worked with Jan Klein. They confirmed that these animals have cells similar to mammalian T cells and B cells.
Dr. Cooper's team also found that lampreys have unique immune receptors instead of antibodies. They named these variable lymphocyte receptors. These special receptors might be useful in treating diseases like multiple myeloma and brain cancer.
Awards and Honors
Dr. Max Cooper has received many awards for his important 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)
