Melissa Cooper, PhD

@sfn.org #SfN25 #SanDiego starts this Saturday. The lab is going to be there in full force - see our presentations below.
Represented this year by @borderbiologist.bsky.social, Nick Kathman, @mrodea.bsky.social, @melcooperphd.bsky.social, @pryprk.bsky.social, @kerrylimberg.bsky.social.

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A big thank you to The Transmitter and @callimcflurry.bsky.social for the spotlight on our preprint!

You can check out her article below, or the preprint here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Thank you so much, Ciaràn!

Thanks, Ciaran!

Thank you to the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (@bbrfoundation.bsky.social) for selecting me for a Young Investigator Award! I'm so excited to explore astrocyte networks in a new context.

Thanks so much! Imaging was definitely my favorite part of the work.

I can make a few educated guesses based on the neuronal functions in different regions, but I’m not sure I can say astrocytes are contributing directly to neuronal functions in each region the network traverses. I think breaking apart this question is going to take a long time, but should be fun!

Sensory deprivation (whisker trim) causes the barrel cortex astrocyte network to shrink! Check out Figure 5 for more details.

I appreciate that! 😁

First author here! This work has been cooking for quite a long time, and I have many more thoughts on it than could possibly exist in one paper. I'm always happy to answer more questions :)

I'm so honored to have the chance to show the world how beautiful the brain's "other" circuitry is. It has been the joy of my career to work on this project, and I can't wait to spend the rest of it learning how much more these networks are capable of.

#womeninSTEM #glia #neuroscience

Now on bioRxiv! Astrocytes in one brain region (cyan) communicate in expansive networks (magenta). Through tool development, tissue clearing, and many hours on our @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social Z1, we now know these networks are repeatable across mice, plastic, and specific.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

@lsfm-na.bsky.social Is this heaven, or am I just currently surrounded by ELEVEN DIFFERENT LIGHT SHEET MICROSCOPES? So thrilled to be out here in Acadia chatting about microscopy!

Lectin conjugated to AlexaFluor647, yep!

Hippocampal vasculature is so pretty 😍
(mouse hippocampus perfused with Tomato Lectin and cleared)
#Neuroscience #Microscopy

An old favorite of mine - this retinal astrocyte (GFAP) looks like it’s dancing among blood vessels.

#science #glia #microscopy

Thanks! @philiphasel.bsky.social and I were always struck by how much this in vivo astrocyte population looked like primary astrocytes grown in serum. Suuuuper different than astrocytes in the parenchyma. Might be a hint about what they’re doing while living way up there!

Imaging these astrocytes on the surface of cleared brains was a blast!

Excited to share our latest paper!

We argue that in MS, the primary immune attack isn’t on myelin or myelinated axons — but on the ion & water homeostasis machinery in astrocyte endfeet.

A short thread on this new perspective

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The Coming Out of a Transgender Scientist "I know that I am making the right decision because whenever I think about changing my gender role, I am flooded with feelings of relief."

We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.

Bilateral astrocyte reaction to unilateral insult in the optic projection to the brain | PNAS Bilateral astrocyte reaction to unilateral insult in the optic projection to the brain

Thank you to the authors of a lovely commentary on our recent PNAS paper! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Does anyone know which SPINES (or similar) seminar series would still be open for applications next year?

I enrolled in a vaccine clinical trial recently, and I’m so glad I did. Going in for ~30 min to get a blood draw and chat with people who are hopeful about curing diseases has felt like a lovely little act of resistance. Highly recommend checking with your local hospital if you feel the same way ❤️

Fresh off the press! We found that degeneration in one retina causes astrocytes to respond retinotopically across *both* hemispheres of the brain. Perhaps astrocytes across the CNS are able to coordinate their responses more than we anticipated... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Our new work on astrocyte responses in glaucoma is out today! A tour de force of tissue clearing and analysis by @melcooperphd.bsky.social. It's one of those stories that leads to even more great questions, so stay tuned!

Thanks for the note!

These are from mice with a tamoxifen inducible cre, which translocates to the nucleus to induce the knockout. The knockout has been confirmed with PCR (primers within & without the excized DNA).

Hello, everyone! Please enjoy one of my favorite micrographs while I finally get set up over here. Vasculature (magenta, perfused lectin), GFAP (cyan), and cx43 (green) in a conditional astrocyte cx43 knockout mouse, demonstrating that cx43 is lost from astrocytes but not pericytes after tamoxifen.