Email
mec9@dental.pitt.edu

Phone
412-648-9591

Office
500 Cellomics
100 Technology Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Position
Research Instructor, Department of Oral Biology
School of Dental Medicine

Research Interests

1. Oral-facial cleft families: Phenotype and Genetics:  Oral-facial clefts, particularly cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) are very common congenital anomalies. Despite years of research, the etiology of these defects is unclear. One of the reasons that prior studies have not yet succeeded may be that the cleft is not the proximate expression of the genes involved.  Therefore, in this project we are assessing multiple phenotypes in the unaffected relatives of cleft individuals in order to better define the phenotype segregating at a genetic level. The ultimate goal of these studies is to identify genes involved in the etiol­ogy of cleft lip with or without cleft palate in the U.S.
2. Genetics of oral health in Appalachia:  States in Appalachia (notably West Vir­ginia) have some of the worst oral health care indica­tors in the U.S. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to assess behavioral, environmental and genetic factors that influence oral health in the region, with the ultimate goal of developing intervention to reduce the disparity compared to the rest of the U.S.
3. Identification of maternal and fetal genetic factors in preterm birth:  Premature birth/delivery (PTD) is one of the most common conditions affecting maternal, fetal, and infant health. Despite years of research, the etiol­ogy of PTD is unclear. Therefore, the purpose of these studies is to identify maternal and fetal genetic factrors involved in the etiology of PTD drawing on families from multiple sites in the U.S. and South America.

 

Recent Publications

Cooper ME, Ratay JS, Marazita ML. Asian oral-facial cleft birth prevalence. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2006 Sep;43(5):580-9. Review.

Neiswanger K, Deleyiannis FW, Avila JR, Cooper ME, Brandon CA, Vieira AR, Noorchashm N, Weinberg SM, Bardi KM, Murray JC, Marazita ML. Candidate genes for oral-facial clefts in Guatemalan families. Ann Plast Surg. 2006 May;56(5):518-21; discussion 521.

Cooper ME, Goldstein TH, Maher BS, Marazita ML. Identifying genomic regions for fine-mapping using genome scan meta-analysis (GSMA) to identify the minimum regions of maximum significance (MRMS) across populations. BMC Genet. 2005 Dec 30;6 Suppl 1:S42 [Epub ahead of print]

Brock GN, Maher BS, Goldstein TH, Cooper ME, Marazita ML. Methods for detecting gene x gene interaction in multiplex extended pedigrees. BMC Genet. 2005 Dec 30;6 Suppl 1:S144 [Epub ahead of print]

Vieira AR, Murray JC, Trembath D, Orioli IM, Castilla EE, Cooper ME, Marazita ML, Lennon-Graham F, Speer M. Studies of reduced folate carrier 1 (RFC1) A80G and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphisms with neural tube and orofacial cleft defects. Am J Med Genet A. 2005 Jun 1;135(2):220-3. No abstract available.

Neiswanger K, Cooper ME, Liu YE, Hu DN, Melnick M, Weinberg SM, Marazita ML. Bilateral asymmetry in Chinese families with cleft lip with or without cleft palate. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2005 Mar;42(2):192-6.

Field LL, Ray AK, Cooper ME, Goldstein T, Shaw DF, Marazita ML. Genome scan for loci involved in nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate in families from West Bengal, India. Am J Med Genet A. 2004 Oct 15;130(3):265-71.

Suzuki Y, Jezewski PA, Machida J, Watanabe Y, Shi M, Cooper ME, Viet le T, Nguyen TD, Hai H, Natsume N, Shimozato K, Marazita ML, Murray JC. In a Vietnamese population, MSX1 variants contribute to cleft lip and palate. Genet Med. 2004 May-Jun;6(3):117-25.

Zucchero TM, Cooper ME, Maher BS, Daack-Hirsch S, Nepomuceno B, Ribeiro L, Caprau D, Christensen K, Suzuki Y, Machida J, Natsume N, Yoshiura K, Vieira AR, Orioli IM, Castilla EE, Moreno L, Arcos-Burgos M, Lidral AC, Field LL, Liu YE, Ray A, Goldstein TH, Schultz RE, Shi M, Johnson MK, Kondo S, Schutte BC, Marazita ML, Murray JC. Interferon regulatory factor 6 (IRF6) gene variants and the risk of isolated cleft lip or palate. N Engl J Med. 2004 Aug 19;351(8):769-80.]

Marazita ML, Murray JC, Lidral AC, Arcos-Burgos M, Cooper ME, Goldstein T, Maher BS, Daack-Hirsch S, Schultz R, Mansilla MA, Field LL, Liu YE, Prescott N, Malcolm S, Winter R, Ray A, Moreno L, Valencia C, Neiswanger K, Wyszynski DF, Bailey-Wilson JE, Albacha-Hejazi H, Beaty TH, McIntosh I, Hetmanski JB, Tuncbilek G, Edwards M, Harkin L, Scott R, Roddick LG. Meta-analysis of 13 genome scans reveals multiple cleft lip/palate genes with novel loci on 9q21 and 2q32-35. Am J Hum Genet. 2004 Aug;75(2):161-73. Epub 2004 Jun 4.

Marazita ML, Field LL, Tuncbilek G, Cooper ME, Goldstein T, Gursu KG. Genome-scan for loci involved in cleft lip with or without cleft palate in consanguineous families from Turkey. Am J Med Genet A. 2004 Apr 15;126(2):111-22.

Moreno LM, Arcos-Burgos M, Marazita ML, Krahn K, Maher BS, Cooper ME, Valencia-Ramirez CR, Lidral AC. Genetic analysis of candidate loci in non-syndromic cleft lip families from Antioquia-Colombia and Ohio. Am J Med Genet A. 2004 Mar 1;125(2):135-44.