Alan J. Cooper

Last updated

Alan Cooper
Born
Alan J. Cooper

1966 (age 56–57)
Dunedin, New Zealand
Alma mater Victoria University of Wellington (PhD)
Awards
  • Eureka Prize (2017)
  • South Australian Scientist of the Year (2016)
  • ARC Laureate Fellowship (2014)
  • Royal Society of South Australia Verco Medal (2013)
  • ARC Future Fellowship (2011)
  • ARC Federation Fellowship (2005)
  • Zoological Society of London Medal (2002)
  • Ernst Mayr Award (1995)
  • Walter Fitch Award (1994)
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions Victoria University Wellington
Smithsonian Institution
University of Oxford
University of Adelaide
Thesis Molecular evolutionary studies of New Zealand birds (1994)
Doctoral advisor Allan C. Wilson
Svante Pääbo

Alan Cooper (born 1966) [1] is a New Zealand evolutionary biologist and an ancient DNA researcher. He was involved in several important early ancient DNA studies, such as the first sequencing of moa genomes. He was the inaugural director of both the Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre at the University of Oxford from 2001–2005, and the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide, South Australia from 2005–2019. [2]

Contents

In December 2019, the University of Adelaide dismissed him, citing "serious misconduct" for bullying staff and students. [3] He was recruited by Charles Sturt University in 2023. [4]

Early life and education

Cooper was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and grew up in Wellington, New Zealand, where he was involved in cave exploration and cave rescue at university and regional level. He was awarded a PhD from the Victoria University of Wellington in 1994 [5] for evolutionary studies of New Zealand birds. [5] During his PhD he also worked at the University of California, Berkeley supervised by Allan C. Wilson and Svante Pääbo. [6]

Career

In 1999, Cooper established the Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre at the University of Oxford and in 2002 was made Professor of Ancient Biomolecules at Oxford. In 2004, he was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellowship. He resigned from Oxford in 2005, following an internal investigation into allegations that he fabricated data in grant applications. [7] He subsequently moved to the University of Adelaide to establish the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA. At Adelaide, he led the Ancient DNA node of the Genographic Project examining human origins and dispersal from 2005–2010. He was awarded a series of ARC Fellowships: Federation (2005–2010), Future (2011–2014), and Laureate (2014–2019) researching human evolution and climate change. [8]

In 2019, Cooper's former PhD scholar and students at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA filed a complaint to the university that Cooper was a habitual bully. Same accusations were given by several other students, [9] describing the place as "a toxic work environment", [3] which he denied. [10] [11] After an investigation, Cooper was suspended from the university in August 2019. [12] He was dismissed in December 2019 for what the university dubbed a "serious misconduct." [3] [13] In January 2020, he filed a legal petition against the university for unfair dismissal. The case was settled out of court in July 2020. [14]

In June, 2023, Charles Sturt University announced that it had appointed Cooper as professor to its Gulbali Institute for Agriculture, Water and Environment, based in Albury-Wodonga. [4] The university remarked him as "a leading figure in the development of ancient-DNA research and [who] was involved in many important early discoveries in the field. He brings significant global networks and achievements to Charles Sturt University." [14]

Research

Cooper has published over 27 papers in the journals Nature and Science .[ citation needed ] In 2000, with Henrik Poinar, he suggested that the standards of much ancient DNA research were insufficient to rule out contamination, especially in studies of ancient humans. [15]

In 2001, he used these methods to characterise the first complete mitochondrial genome sequences from extinct species, two New Zealand moa. [16]

Cooper has analysed ancient DNA from extinct species preserved in caves, permafrost areas of Alaska and the Yukon, [17] Antarctica, and sedimentary and archaeological deposits around the world. He has published on the evolutionary history of a range of enigmatic extinct species including: New Zealand moa and Madagascan elephant bird (Aepyornis), the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus), American lion (P. leo atrox) and cheetah-like cat (Miracinonyx), North and South American horses (stilt-legged horse, Hippidion), steppe bison, bears (Arctodus, U. arctos), cave hyenas (Crocuta spelaea), mammoth, and the Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis).[ citation needed ] He has also shown that the calcified plaque on the teeth of ancient skeletons can be used to reconstruct the evolution of the human microbiome through time. [18]

In 2021, Cooper and colleagues published a paper in Science, arguing that the extinction of Neanderthals and the appearance of cave paintings could be linked to a geomagnetic excursion approximately 41,000 years ago, dubbed the Laschamp event. [19] The claims were met with scepticism by other experts. [20]

Awards

He was awarded the Walter Fitch Award (1994) [28] and the Ernst Mayr Award (1995) [29] for his PhD research into the evolution of New Zealand birds.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moa</span> Extinct order of birds

Moa are an extinct group of flightless birds formerly endemic to New Zealand. During the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, there were nine species. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about 3.6 metres (12 ft) in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about 230 kilograms (510 lb) while the smallest, the bush moa, was around the size of a turkey. Estimates of the moa population when Polynesians settled New Zealand circa 1300 vary between 58,000 and approximately 2.5 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beth Shapiro</span> American evolutionary molecular biologist (born 1976)

Beth Alison Shapiro is an American evolutionary molecular biologist. She is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Shapiro's work has centered on the analysis of ancient DNA. She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2009 and a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient DNA</span> Method of archaeological study

Ancient DNA (aDNA) is DNA isolated from ancient specimens. Due to degradation processes ancient DNA is more degraded in comparison with contemporary genetic material. Even under the best preservation conditions, there is an upper boundary of 0.4–1.5 million years for a sample to contain sufficient DNA for sequencing technologies. The oldest sample ever sequenced is estimated to be 1.65 million years old. Genetic material has been recovered from paleo/archaeological and historical skeletal material, mummified tissues, archival collections of non-frozen medical specimens, preserved plant remains, ice and from permafrost cores, marine and lake sediments and excavation dirt. On 7 December 2022, The New York Times reported that two-million year old genetic material was found in Greenland, and is currently considered the oldest DNA discovered so far.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palaeognathae</span> Infraclass of birds

Palaeognathae is an infraclass of birds, called paleognaths or palaeognaths, within the class Aves of the clade Archosauria. It is one of the two extant infraclasses of birds, the other being Neognathae, both of which form Neornithes. Palaeognathae contains five extant branches of flightless lineages, termed ratites, and one flying lineage, the Neotropic tinamous. There are 47 species of tinamous, five of kiwis (Apteryx), three of cassowaries (Casuarius), one of emus (Dromaius), two of rheas (Rhea) and two of ostriches (Struthio). Recent research has indicated that paleognaths are monophyletic but the traditional taxonomic split between flightless and flighted forms is incorrect; tinamous are within the ratite radiation, meaning flightlessness arose independently multiple times via parallel evolution.

<i>Dinornis</i> Extinct genus of birds

The giant moa (Dinornis) is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. As with other moa, it was a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of Dinornis are considered valid, the North Island giant moa and the South Island giant moa. In addition, two further species have been suggested based on distinct DNA lineages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recent African origin of modern humans</span> "Out of Africa" theory of the early migration of humans

In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans or the "Out of Africa" theory (OOA) is the most widely accepted model of the geographic origin and early migration of anatomically modern humans. It follows the early expansions of hominins out of Africa, accomplished by Homo erectus and then Homo neanderthalensis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denisovan</span> Asian archaic human

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References

  1. ↑ Ross, John (5 July 2018). "Interview with Alan Cooper" . Times Higher Education. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  2. ↑ "Alan Cooper". Royal Institution of Australia. 30 April 2005. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Lewis, Dyani (21 December 2019). "Head of ancient-DNA lab sacked for 'serious misconduct'". Nature . doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03932-3. PMID   33340012. S2CID   212810656.
  4. 1 2 Howes, Ted (10 July 2023). "Dismissed DNA professor rehired at CSU's Border campus". The Border Mail. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  5. 1 2 Cooper, Alan (1994). Molecular evolutionary studies of New Zealand birds. tewaharoa.victoria.ac.nz (PhD thesis). Victoria University of Wellington. OCLC   154061907.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ "Research Profiles: Professor Alan Cooper". Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  7. ↑ Pincock, Stephen (1 June 2005). "Oxford DNA Lab Leaderless". The Scientist Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  8. ↑ "16 new Australian Laureate Fellows to push the boundaries of research". Australian Research Council. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  9. ↑ Lewis, Dyani (23 August 2019). "'Paralysed by anxiety': researchers speak about life in troubled ancient-DNA lab". Nature. 572 (7771): 571–572. Bibcode:2019Natur.572..571L. doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-02540-5 . PMID   31455916. S2CID   201656835.
  10. ↑ Lewis, Dyani (19 August 2019). "Head of prestigious ancient-DNA lab suspended amid bullying allegations". Nature. 572 (7770): 424–425. Bibcode:2019Natur.572..424L. doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-02490-y . PMID   31431750.
  11. ↑ Culotta, Elizabeth (19 August 2019). "Australian university suspends ancient DNA expert Alan Cooper as part of workplace investigation". Science . doi:10.1126/science.aaz1830. S2CID   202354006.
  12. ↑ Lewis, Dyani (19 August 2019). "Head of prestigious ancient-DNA lab suspended amid bullying allegations". Nature. 572 (7770): 424–425. Bibcode:2019Natur.572..424L. doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-02490-y . PMID   31431750. S2CID   201105764.
  13. ↑ Wadman, Meredith (20 December 2019). "Bullying allegations lead to firing of prominent ancient DNA expert". Science . doi:10.1126/science.aba6622. S2CID   214460564.
  14. 1 2 Lewis, Dyani (28 June 2023). "Ancient-DNA researcher fired for 'serious misconduct' lands new role". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02147-x. PMID   37380840. S2CID   259285719.
  15. ↑ Cooper, A. (2000). "Ancient DNA: Do It Right or Not at All". Science. 289 (5482): 1139b–1139. doi:10.1126/science.289.5482.1139b. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   10970224. S2CID   11030200.
  16. ↑ Cooper, Alan; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Anderson, Simon; Rambaut, Andrew; Austin, Jeremy; Ward, Ryk (2001). "Complete mitochondrial genome sequences of two extinct moas clarify ratite evolution". Nature. 409 (6821): 704–707. doi:10.1038/35055536. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   11217857. S2CID   4430050.
  17. ↑ Kahn, Jennifer. "Canada's Ancient Monsters on Ice", Discover , 28 March 2004. Retrieved on 18 October 2014
  18. ↑ Adler, Christina J; Dobney, Keith; Weyrich, Laura S; Kaidonis, John; Walker, Alan W; Haak, Wolfgang; Bradshaw, Corey J A; Townsend, Grant; Sołtysiak, Arkadiusz; Alt, Kurt W; Parkhill, Julian; Cooper, Alan (2013). "Sequencing ancient calcified dental plaque shows changes in oral microbiota with dietary shifts of the Neolithic and Industrial revolutions". Nature Genetics . 45 (4): 450–455. doi:10.1038/ng.2536. ISSN   1061-4036. PMC   3996550 . PMID   23416520.
  19. ↑ Cooper, Alan; Turney, Chris S. M.; Palmer, Jonathan; Hogg, Alan; McGlone, Matt; Wilmshurst, Janet; Lorrey, Andrew M.; Heaton, Timothy J.; Russell, James M.; McCracken, Ken; Anet, Julien G. (19 February 2021). "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago". Science. 371 (6531): 811–818. doi:10.1126/science.abb8677. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   33602851. S2CID   231955607.
  20. ↑ Voosen, Paul (19 February 2021). "Kauri trees mark magnetic flip 42,000 years ago". Science. 371 (6531): 766. Bibcode:2021Sci...371..766V. doi:10.1126/science.371.6531.766. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   33602836. S2CID   231963027.
  21. ↑ 2017 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes winners, Australian Museum. Retrieved on 8 August 2019
  22. ↑ "Professor Alan Cooper is SA Scientist of the Year" Retrieved on 16 July 2019
  23. ↑ "Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship: Alan Cooper" Archived 11 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine "Australian Research Council" Archived 22 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 7 December 2014
  24. ↑ "Australian Centre for Ancient DNA: Research" Retrieved on 7 December 2014
  25. ↑ "Australian Research Council Future Fellowships 2009" Archived 10 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine "Australian Research Council" Archived 22 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 7 December 2014
  26. ↑ "Australian Research Council Federation Fellowships 2004" Archived 7 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine "Australian Research Council" Archived 22 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 7 December 2014
  27. ↑ "Annual Report of the Institute of Zoology 2001/02" [Zoological Society of London] Retrieved on 7 December 2014
  28. ↑ "The Walter M. Fitch Award". www.smbe.org. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  29. ↑ "Ernst Mayr Award". Society of Systematic Biologists. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
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