Christopher Cooper

16 Last checked 23 June 2020

Following my first degree in Biochemistry at the University of Oxford (Merton College), I moved to the Department of Engineering Science and Linacre College to pursue a PhD/DPhil in molecular microbiology and biochemistry. During this time I developed an interest in DNA replication and repair, studying thermoacidophilic archaea and their DNA polymerases. To pursue my interests in genomics, I then undertook a Masters degree in Bioinformatics at the University of York with a research placement at the University of Uppsala in Sweden.

I subsequently moved into eukaryotic molecular biology, working for 3 years at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences in Oxford. Here I researched microRNA and cancer-testis antigen expression profiles in human lymphomas, cementing my interests in cancer research. I then undertook two postdoctoral positions at the Structural Genomics Consortium (Oxford), working on high-throughput crystallography and biochemistry of human DNA polymerases and helicases involved in genome integrity, SNF2 family members in chromatin remodelling and ETS transcription factors.

I continued to research genome integrity factors in cancer during a short postdoc at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology (Oxford), using structural, biochemical and cell biology approaches to study endonucleases, chromatin remodeling SNF2 ATPases and poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation, involved in the DNA damage response. During my latter postdoc positions I was appointed as an E.P. Abraham Cephalosporin Junior Research Fellow and a member of the Governing Body at Linacre College, and also as a College Lecturer in Biochemistry at the Queen’s College.

I joined the University of Huddersfield as a Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences in 2015.

• Taking a multi-disciplinary approach to study proteins involved in the DNA damage response and genome integrity in human cancers and aging
• Developing novel protein expression and purification systems to facilitate structural and biochemical approaches 
• Biotechnological exploitation of novel DNA metabolising proteins from extremophilic bacteria and archaea

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