Education and qualifications

1998 - 2001: B.Sc. Honours. Biology and Geography combined degree. University of Brighton.

2001 - 2002: M.Sc. Oceanography.  The National Oceanography Centre, University of  Southampton.

2002 - 2005: Ph.D entitled “Physiological and chemical modulators of iron homeostasis in teleost fish – implications for metal toxicity”. School of Nutritional Sciences, King's College London.

2005 - 2009: Post-doctoral research assistant. “Novel integration of gas exchange, osmotic and acid-base regulatory functions of the gill and gut of fish in hyper-salinities”. School of Biosciences, University of Exeter.

2009 - Present: Post-doctoral Fellow. “Fish out of water: strategies for survival in moist leaf litter”. Integrative Biology, University of Guelph.

Research Interests

My research interests are very broad, but the hub of my work revolves around fishes. From the cell to the whole animal, my research has focused on how fish are able to maintain homeostasis when challenged with a wide variety of exongenous and endogenous factors. Using a multi-disciplinary approach I have paid particular attention to how fish deal with varying salinities, changing levels of essential nutrients, blood pH disturbances and oxygen delivery. What makes my research so interesting is that fish have very unique ways of dealing with living in an aqueous environment and now that I'm working on an amphibious fish (Mangrove killifish, Kryptolebias marmoratus) - is how they utilise the skin for gas exchange and osmoregulation when they're exposed to air, for up to 2 months!

Publications

1. Cooper, C. A. & Wilson, R. W. (2008). Post-prandial alkaline tide in freshwater rainbow trout: effects of meal anticipation on recovery from acid–base and ion regulatory disturbances. J. Exp. Biol. 211: 2542-2550. 

2. Cooper, C. A., Shayeghi, M., Techau, M. E., Capdevila, D. M., MacKenziw, S., Durrant, C. & Bury, N. R. (2007). Analysis of the rainbow trout solute carrier 11 family reveals iron import < or = pH 7.4 and a functional isoform lacking transmembrane domains 11 and 12. FEBS Lett. 581(14): 2599-2604.

3. Cooper, C. A. & Bury, N. R. (2007). The gills as an important uptake route for the essential nutrient iron in freshwater rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. J. Fish Biol. 71(1): 115-128.

4. Cooper, C. A., Handy, R. D. & Bury, N. R. (2006). The effects of dietary iron concentration on gastrointestinal and branchial assimilation of both iron and cadmium in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Aquat. Toxicol. 79(2): 167-175.

5. Cooper, C. A., Bury, N. R. & Grosell, M. (2006). The effects of pH and the iron redox state on iron uptake in the intestine of a marine teleost fish, gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta). Comp. Biochem. Physiol. [A] 143(3): 292-298.

6. Cooper, C. A. (2004). If only we had gills. Article in Planet Earth, NERC quarterly magazine Winter: page 28.

Contact information

Dr. Chris Cooper
Integrative Biology
University of Guelph
50 Stone Road East
Guelph
Ontario, N1G 2W1
Canada

Phone: 519-824-4120 ext. 58387
Fax: 519-767-1656
Email: ccooper@uoguelph.ca