CV

CV

CURRENT POSITION:
      Assistant professor
      Department of Biology and Biochemistry
University of Houston

CONTACT INFORMATION:
      Dr Tim Cooper
      Evolution and Ecology Group
      Department of Biology and Biochemistry
      University of Houston
      Houston, TX 77204
      E-mail: tfcooper@uh.edu
      Ph. +01 713 743 2552
      Web page: www.bchs.uh.edu/~cooper

INTERESTS:
·      Dynamics and underlying mechanisms of adaptation in experimental populations.
·      Use of model systems to test evolutionary and ecological theories.
·      Plasmid ecology and evolution.
·      Host–parasite interactions and the evolution of virulence.

PUBLICATIONS:
Cooper TF, Remold S, Lenski RE, Schneider D (2008) Expression profiles reveal parallel evolution of epistatic interactions involving the CRP regulon in Escherichia coli. PLoS Genetics, in press doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0040035.eor
Cooper TF (2007). Recombination speeds adaptation by reducing competition between beneficial mutations in populations of Escherichia coli. PLoS Biol 5(9): e225 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050225.
Cooper TF, Ostrowski EA, Travisano M (2007). A negative relationship between mutation pleiotropy and fitness. Evolution 61: 1495-1499.
Cooper TF, Morby AP, Gunn A, Schneider D (2006) Effect of random and hub gene disruptions on environmental and mutational robustness in Escherichia coli. BMC Genomics 7:237.
Cooper TF, Lenski RE, Elena SF (2005). Parasites and mutational load: an experimental test of a pluralistic theory for the evolution of sex. Proc. R. Soc. London B 272: 311-317.
Cooper TF, Heinemann JA (2005). Selection for plasmid postsegregational killing depends on multiple infection: evidence for the selection of more virulent parasites through parasite-level competition. Proc. R. Soc. London B 272: 403-410.
Cooper TF, Beaumont H, Rainey PB (2005). Biofilms as a test of the insurance hypothesis. Microbiology 51: 2815-2816.
Rainey PB, Cooper TF (2004). Evolution of bacterial diversity and the origins of modularity. Res. Microbiol. 155: 370-375.
Cooper TF, Rozen DR, Lenski RE (2003). Parallel changes in gene expression after 20,000 generations of evolution in Escherichia coli. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 1072-1077.
Cooper TF, Ofria C (2002). Evolution of stable ecosystems in populations of digital organisms. Alife 8: 227-232.
Cooper TF, Heinemann JA (2000). Postsegregational killing does not increase plasmid stability but acts to mediate the exclusion of competing plasmids. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 12643-12648.
Cooper TF, Heinemann JA (2000). Transfer of IncF and IncP plasmids and bacteriophage occurs in the presence of antibiotics that prevent de-novo gene expression. Plasmid 43: 171-175.

Cooper TF, Lenski RE. Evolution in mixed-resource environments increases divergence among replicate populations of Escherichia coli. In preparation.
Cooper TF, Lenski RE. Tradeoffs and the specificity of adaptation of Escherichia coli in single- and mixed-resource environments. In preparation.