Rate My Professor Helen Cooper

Cooper's research centers on the development and application of advanced mass spectrometry techniques for characterizing biomolecular structures, particularly gas-phase ion chemistry of peptides and proteins. She is a world leader in electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry and has pioneered native ambient mass spectrometry for in situ analysis of intact proteins and assemblies directly from tissues, bridging spatial and structural biology with implications for molecular pathology and drug discovery. Key projects include native ambient mass spectrometry, 3D Protein Atlas of Brain, and Biochemical Microscopy. Notable publications include 'Integrated Native Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Soluble and Membrane Proteins' (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2026), 'Mass spectrometry imaging of SOD1 protein-metal complexes in SOD1G93A transgenic mice implicates demetalation with pathology' (Nature Communications, 2024), 'Tissue Washing Improves Native Ambient Mass Spectrometry Detection of Membrane Proteins Directly from Tissue' (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023), and 'Native Ambient Mass Spectrometry of an Intact Membrane Protein Assembly and Soluble Protein Assemblies Directly from Lens Tissue' (Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2022). Her contributions are recognized with the 2022 Royal Society of Chemistry Theophilus Redwood Award, Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Wellcome Trust and EPSRC fellowships. She serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry.