• Christina Cooley grew up in Conway, AR, where she studied Chemistry and Music at Hendrix College. Formative undergraduate research experiences in organic chemistry and neurobiology propelled her to a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Stanford University, working in the laboratory of Professor Paul Wender to develop new oligomeric scaffolds for drug delivery applications. She then completed postdoctoral training in Chemical Biology at Scripps Research in San Diego with Professors Jeff Kelly and Luke Wiseman, focusing on therapeutic approaches for protein misfolding diseases. Christina joined the Trinity Chemistry faculty in 2015, where she leads an interdisciplinary undergraduate research program that applies the power of synthetic organic chemistry to impact related fields including polymer chemistry, medicinal chemistry and biology. Current major project areas include the development of fluorogenic radical polymerization reactions as platforms for biodetection, and prodrug strategies for disease-targeted therapeutic delivery. Beyond research, she is passionate about educating and mentoring the next generation of scientists, as well as serving the Trinity and broader scientific communities.

    • Postdoc in Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute 
    • Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Stanford University 
    • B.A. in Chemistry, Hendrix College 
    • Danyal Tahseen; Jemima R. Sackey-Addo; Zachary T. Allen; Joseph T. Anderson; Jordan B. McMurry; Christina B. Cooley. “Fluorogenic Monomer Activation for Protein-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization” Org. Biomol. Chem. 2022, 20, 6257-6262.
    • Julia M. D. Grandjean; Aparajita Madhavan; Lauren Cech; Bryan O. Seguinot; Ryan J. Paxman; Emery Smith; Louis Scampavia; Evan T. Powers; Christina B. Cooley; Lars Plate; Timothy P. Spicer; Jeffery W. Kelly; R. Luke Wiseman. “Pharmacologic IRE1/XBP1s Activation Confers Targeted ER Proteostasis Reprogramming” Nat. Chem. Biol. 2020, 16, 1052-1061. 
    • Jonathan E. Palmer; Breanna M. Brietske; Tyler C. Bate; Erik A. Blackwood; Manasa Garg; Christopher C. Glembotski; Christina B. Cooley. “Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-Activatable Prodrug Strategy for Selective Activation of ATF6 Following Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury” ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2020, 11, 3, 292-297. 
    • Zachary T. Allen; Jemima R. Sackey-Addo; Madeline P. Hopps; Danyal Tahseen; Joseph T. Anderson; Tyler A. Graf; Christina B. Cooley. “Fluorogenic Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization in Aqueous Media as a Strategy for Detection” Chem. Sci. 2019, 10, 1017-1022.
    • Lars Plate;* Christina B. Cooley;* John J. Chen; Ryan J. Paxman; Ciara M. Gallagher; Franck Madoux; Joseph C. Genereux; Wesley Dobbs; Dan Garza; Timothy P. Spicer; Louis Scampavia; Steven J. Brown; Hugh Rosen; Evan T. Powers; Peter Walter; Peter Hodder; R. Luke Wiseman; Jeffery W. Kelly. "Small Molecule Proteostasis Regulators that Reprogram the ER to Reduce Extracellular Protein Aggregation" eLIFE 2016, 5, e15550. 
    • Christina B. Cooley;* Lisa M. Ryno;* Lars Plate; Gareth J. Morgan; John D. Hulleman; Jeffery W. Kelly; R. Luke Wiseman. “Unfolded Protein Response Activation Reduces Secretion and Extracellular Aggregation of Amyloidogenic Immunoglobulin Light Chain” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2014, 111, 13046-13051.
    • Mathew D. Shoulders; Lisa M. Ryno; Christina B. Cooley; Jeffery W. Kelly; R. Luke Wiseman. “Broadly Applicable Methodology for the Rapid and Dosable Small Molecule-Mediated Regulation of Transcription Factors in Human Cells” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 8129-8132.
    • Erika I. Geihe;* Christina B. Cooley;* Justin Edward; Matthew K. Kiesewetter; Jeff Simon; James L. Hedrick; Robert M. Waymouth; Paul A. Wender. “Designed Guanidinium-Rich Amphipathic Oligocarbonate Molecular Transporters Complex, Deliver and Release siRNA in Cells” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2012, 109, 13171-13176.
    • Christina B. Cooley; Brian M. Trantow; Fredrik Nederberg; Matthew K. Kiesewetter; James L. Hedrick; Robert M. Waymouth; Paul A. Wender. “Oligocarbonate Molecular Transporters:  Oligomerization-Based Syntheses and Cell-Penetrating Studies” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 16401-16403.
    • Christina B. Cooley; Brian M. Trantow; Fredrik Nederberg; Matthew K. Kiesewetter; James L. Hedrick; Robert M. Waymouth; Paul A. Wender. “Oligocarbonate Molecular Transporters” U.S. Patent 7,939,621, 2011.

    *denotes equal authorship
    Underline denotes Trinity University students or alumni

    • Fluorogenic Radical Polymerization
    • Biosensing
    • Monomer and Prodrug Synthesis
    • Targeted Drug Delivery

    The Cooley Lab has been supported by grants from federal agencies and private foundations including the National Science Foundation (CAREER and MRI programs), the Welch Foundation, the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, and the San Antonio Area Foundation.

    • Organic Chemistry
    • Chemical Synthesis
    • Biochemistry Lab
    • 2021 National Science Foundation CAREER Award
    • 2021 Trinity University Early Career Award for Distinguished Research and Teaching
    • 2012 NIH NRSA Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship
    • 2011 Stanford University Sessler Graduate Student Leadership Award
    • 2009 Stanford University Linus Pauling Teaching Award