‘We’ve Just Had a Good Time Doing It,’ Terrance Cooper, PhD, Says of His Career in Research

Terrance Cooper, PhD, Harriet Van Vleet professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry and highly ranked scholar, has published approximately 241 scientific publications and gained 9,199 citations.

Terrance (Terry) Cooper, PhD, developed his interest in biology while taking photomicrographs with direction from his biology professor as an undergraduate student at Wayne State University in the mid-1960s.

Now, Dr. Cooper, a researcher and Harriet Van Vleet professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry in the College of Medicine, is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher, speaker, leader, mentor, and professor.

For 45 years, his research has continuously received support from the National Institutes of Health. Currently, he has published approximately 241 scientific publications, and gained 9,199 citations.

Dr. Cooper is ranked No. 6 among the Highly Ranked Scholars: Lifetime list by SholarGPS, the world's most comprehensive scholarly analytics platform, in the specialty on Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a species of baker's yeast. He ranks among the top 28 investigators on this list, which includes two Nobel Laureates and eight members of the United States National Academy of Sciences.

"I was surprised by it," Dr. Cooper said regarding his scientific ranking. "I didn't know about it. One of the editorial board members of the Journal of Biological Chemistry sent it to me. We've just had a good time doing research."

Dr. Cooper's research focuses on yeast molecular and cell biology, yeast genetics, and yeast signaling, transport systems, transcriptional regulation, and the Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (mTorC1) mechanism.

"Rapamycin is the compound that they use to coat stents with, so they don't get blocked or grow things inside the stents, and it's in a fair number of clinical trials to use in the treatment of cancer and tissue rejection," Dr. Cooper said.

Dr. Cooper noted the significance of studying yeast. "You can do things faster in yeast than you can in human cells," he said. "A lot of what we know in human cells is because they do the sequencing in human cells and then compare it to the yeast sequence and conclude, 'we know what the function is in yeast, and so it may be the same function or a related function in human cells.'"

Innovation at UT Health Science Center

Dr. Cooper earned his bachelor's degree in biology in 1965 and master's in chemistry in 1967 from Wayne State University.

He earned his PhD in biochemistry from Purdue University in 1969 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971.

He served as the Andrey Avinoff Professor of Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh before joining UT Health Science Center in 1985. That year, he connected with Robert L. Summit, MD, former dean of the College of Medicine, to reconstruct the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry, and develop a center for recombinant DNA research; the Molecular Resource Center (MRC).

"I was considering coming here and the campus didn't have the facilities to do state-of-the-art recombinant DNA research. I said, 'we've got to have DNA research, and if the MRC must support itself or make money, DNA research will never come to campus, so it has to be free.' In 1985 or '86, we got the money for it, and recombinant technologies came to campus and have grown to their present state of routine use in many laboratories," Dr. Cooper said.

The center expanded through DNA synthesis, sequencing and peptide synthesis, and through bringing a cell sorter for a cell sorting project, Dr. Cooper said.

The MRC is one of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission Centers of Excellence at UT Health Science Center to provide scientists access to molecular technologies for research of biological mechanisms and the molecular basis of human disease.

Dr. Cooper served as the director of the MRC until 1998. Also in 1985, Dr. Cooper was appointed the first Harriet S. VanVleet Chair of Excellence in Microbiology and Immunology. He chaired the department until 2000.

"We wanted faculty that were doing cutting-edge work," he said. "The people I hired back when I first came or shortly after were doing state-of-the-art work and it spread to what it was in 2000."

Leadership and Impact

Dr. Cooper has served the university in many roles including as president of the Faculty Senate from 2016-2017, as a member on the UT Board of Trustees 2017-2018, and the UT Health Science Center Advisory Board from 2019-2023.

Dr. Cooper has been a member and chair of the Faculty Senate handbook committee since 2018 and was recently recognized with the Senator of the Year award by the Faculty Senate in June.

He recognizes the value of mentoring others. "Where you really leave something that lasts and where you make an impact is the people. It's the people you've mentored," he said.

One of many he's mentored is Jennifer Tate, PhD, biosafety officer in the Office of Research Safety Affairs at UT Health Science Center.

"As I started to wind my lab down, I knew I would have to retire at some point, so getting ready for that I said, 'Jennifer, we have to think about what you're going to do next,'" he said. "Then she got her MBA from UT Knoxville and graduated top of her class. That's success to me, because that makes an impact on people's lives."

"Terry has served as an exceptional mentor, imparting invaluable lessons throughout my research career. His emphasis on the significance of evaluating one's work with integrity and an open mind has been particularly impactful," said Dr. Tate. "Moreover, his guidance on leadership, characterized by principles of respect, fairness, and compassion, resonates deeply with me. These principles have contributed significantly to my development and the university's mission throughout his tenure here at UT Health Science Center. I feel privileged and honored to have Terry as both a mentor and a friend."

"Look at Mike Whitt, one of my early hires. When you develop one person, that person develops another set of people as well," Dr. Cooper said. "That's really the legacy you leave. The papers, that's fine, but the legacy of the people is more important."

Michael Whitt, PhD, is the associate dean and chair of medical education and professor in the College of Medicine. In 1990, Dr. Whitt began applying for tenure-track faculty positions as a postdoctoral fellow and was impressed by Dr. Cooper's work and vision for the department, he said.

"As a new assistant professor, I had not thought much about where I wanted to go with my career, but through Dr. Cooper's mentoring and encouragement, I learned not only how to be a successful researcher, but that being a faculty member was much more than just getting grants and training graduate students and postdocs. I will forever be grateful for the opportunities Dr. Cooper encouraged me to pursue and his unwavering confidence in me," Dr. Whitt said. "I recall during one of my annual reviews where he said, 'and when you become the chair of a department,' at which point I told him I have no desire to become a chair. He just smiled. Now, having served as the chair for two departments, I owe much of my management style to lessons I learned from Dr. Cooper, and I will forever be grateful for his support, guidance, and integrity as a mentor and friend."

Dr. Cooper is a distinguished service member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), where he chaired the AAMC Council of Academic Societies and served on the AAMC Executive Committee from 2000-2001. Dr. Cooper is also secretary and program organizer in the International Conference of Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, a member of the American Academy of Microbiology, American Society for Microbiology, New York Academy of Science, and Genetics Society of America.

Dr. Cooper looks forward to continuing his research. He also published a retrospective of his life and career and encourages other scientists to share their stories.

Telling the Stories Behind the Research

Since 2016, he serves as the editor of retrospectives for the Federation European Microbiology Societies (FEMS) Yeast Research.

Not only has Dr. Cooper published a retrospective of his life and career in the FEMS scientific journal, but he initiated and encourages other scientists to share their experiences.

"The younger generation doesn't know about the scientists as people; the stories of their lives," he said. "Around seven years ago, I was in an editorial board lunch meeting for FEMS Yeast Research, and I said, 'we need to have retrospectives of the lives of the researchers that study yeast' and they said this would never work. By four o'clock I had 12 people, and the rest is history."

"These are stories that young people should take a lot of heart from. Sometimes we think we have it tough, and then you look at other people's experiences and you say, 'I can do this'," he said.

He recently published another article in FEMS Yeast Research journal for individuals in any specialty to learn how to conduct successful research projects.

For prospective students and researchers who may pursue this field, Dr. Cooper emphasizes the importance of having enthusiasm for your career. "It's got to be something that excites you. If you can't get up in the morning and look forward to what you're going to do that day, you need to find something else," he said. "If this was not still fun, I would be gone. It's still fun. At the end of the day, you must also ask a second question, did I make a difference?"

Now, he looks forward to continuing his research.

"In 1985, there was an incredible level of excitement on this campus. We were going to build recombinant DNA. Chancellor (James) Hunt, MD, Dean (Robert) Summitt, MD, Governor (Lamar) Alexander, and the Tennessee Legislature put in the needed money and resources and made that happen. I haven't seen that kind of excitement until the last few years with our new administration," he said. "The level of excitement that we're seeing on the campus today is both remarkable and very satisfying to be a part of. It bodes well for the future of UT Health Science Center."

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