I am Dr. Melissa Cooper, a postdoctoral fellow and Leon Levy Neuroscience Fellow at NYU Langone Health.

My work characterizes the astrocyte connectome in morphological scope and molecular function.

A complete list of my publications lives here.

Highlighted Publications

Astrocytes in the mouse brain respond bilaterally to unilateral retinal neurodegeneration

Cooper et al., 2025

Determined that neurodegenerative events in one retina impacts specific astrocyte populations in both hemispheres of the brain.

 

Defining the molecular identity and morphology of glia limitans superficialis astrocytes in vertebrates

Hasel, Cooper et al., 2025

Tissue clearing and single-cell sequencing revealed a highly specialized astrocyte subtype on the brain’s surface in animals from fish to human.

 

Redistribution of metabolic resources through astrocyte networks mitigates neurodegenerative stress

Cooper et al., 2020

Revealed long-distance metabolic redistribution through astrocytes during neurodegeneration that rescued neuronal structure and function; examined the functional impacts of resource donation on both degenerating and donating tissue.

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Postdoctoral Fellow (NYU Langone Health)


Leon Levy Fellow in Neuroscience
Scientist-In-Residence, The New York Academy of Sciences



Ph.D. in Neuroscience
(Vanderbilt University, Class of 2019)

B.S. in Biological Sciences, with Honors, and in Psychology; Minors in Biochemistry and in Chemistry
(Florida State University, Class of 2014)