Dr. Carlton R. Cooper

Drs. Welch, Mastro and Cooper are studying the mechanism by which breast and prostate tumor cells co-opt the bone microenvironment to destroy it.
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Carlton R. Cooper, Ph..D. Assistant Professor of Biology University of Delaware

Dr. Carlton R. Cooper, Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE

Carlton R. Cooper, Assistant Professor University of Delaware

Carlton R. Cooper, Ph.D., Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE

Dr. Carlton Cooper, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Delaware, agreed a lack of role models is one of the main problems.

"What they see on TV and through media are black people being singers, rappers, actors and professional athletes," he said.
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Cooper said he had to be "selfish" and keep everyone away while he got his doctorate.Although he chose not to be married at the time, "You have to be with someone who understands," he said.

Five years ago, when Carlton Cooper received his Ph.D. in microbiology at Mississippi State University, he had to decide whether to continue to concentrate his research on HIV/AIDS prevention or research the causes of prostate cancer.

The discovery he made about his family that very same year decided it for him.It made it personal.

"I learned that many of the people in my family on my mother's side had prostate cancer," said Cooper, 36, now an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Delaware.
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Cooper's and Sikes' role will be to study the cancer as it enters the bone, Cooper said.In order for the cancer cells to fuse with the bone, they must bind to the cells lining small blood vessels that feed the bone marrow, he said.Once the cells bind, the cancer cells invade and cause painful bone lesions.

Cooper said he also will use ribozymes to regulate and control the proteins that facilitate the binding of the cells.

Their research may result in new methods of cancer treatment, including "cancer therapy" injections.

Several theories

There are several theories about the causes of prostate cancer, Cooper said, including lifestyle.

"I grew up raising hogs in South Carolina and didn't have the best diet," he said.Everything was fried and cooked in oil, he said.It also didn't help that the men on his mother's side of the family didn't go to the doctor until it was too late.

"But the cause may be genetic as well," he said.Black Americans are a third more likely than whites or Asians to develop prostate cancer.

One of the reasons, Cooper said, may be that black Americans do not produce as much Vitamin D as lighter-skinned people do, and Vitamin D is considered a factor in preventing prostate cancer cells from forming.

Symptoms of prostate cancer include difficult or painful urination, as well as having blood in the urine.Once the cancer reaches the bone, it may cause bone pain, particularly in the lower back.

Cooper said he takes Vitamin E supplements to help keep his body fat down.But there isn't much else he can do besides watch his diet."I can't help my genetic predisposition," he said.

Even so, as he ages, Cooper lives with his worst fear: getting prostate cancer.

"That fuels me in this research," he said.Cooper's wife just gave birth to a baby boy."That also fuels me to find something," he said.
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Carlton Cooper, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Delaware, performs prostate cancer research Wednesday at Wolf Hall, in Newark.