Dr. Cooper is a Professor in the Departments of Pathology & Immunology, Molecular & Cell Biology and Molecular Physiology & Biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. After receiving his medical degree from Temple University Medical School, Dr. Cooper obtained postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco, where he initiated a longstanding investigation of alternative splicing regulation. He joined Baylor College of Medicine in 1989 and in 2003 became full professor and was named to the S. Donald Greenberg endowed chair. His laboratory contributed to identification of the RNA gain of function mechanism responsible for the molecular mechanism of myotonic dystrophy pathogenesis, specifically the disruption of developmentally regulated alternative splicing. Currently his laboratory investigates the physiological roles of alternative splicing as well as the mechanisms and consequences of its disruption in myotonic dystrophy. His laboratory also demonstrated the feasibility of using gapmer antisense oligonucleotides to degrade the toxic RNA that causes myotonic dystrophy. More information on Dr. Cooper can be found on his lab website.