Cagney Coomer

Dr. Cagney Coomer earned her B.S. in Biology at Virginia State University, before completing an A.S. from Bluegrass Community & Technical College’s biotechnology program. She then pursued a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the University of Kentucky, where she studied retinal development and regeneration in zebrafish, identifying novel gene functions critical for photoreceptor maintenance and repair. For her postdoctoral training at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and later at the University of Michigan Medical School, she developed transgenic tools for trans-synaptic tracing in zebrafish, techniques that allow mapping and manipulation of neural circuits during development and regeneration. Dr. Coomer is dedicated to unraveling how neural circuits regenerate after spinal cord injury. Her lab develops and applies cutting-edge transgenic techniques in zebrafish to trace synaptic connections across development, injury, and regeneration. In particular, she uses trans-synaptic tracing methods and live imaging to map how regenerated axons rebuild functional synapses, a key step toward understanding how lost neural functions could be restored. Her work is supported in part by the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna H. Gray Fellowship, the first such award hosted at a liberal arts college. Dr. Coomer founded NERD SQUAD Inc. — a nonprofit aimed at encouraging girls of color and other underrepresented youth to explore science and develop confidence in STEM. Through outreach programs, mentorship, and community engagement, she strives to broaden participation in science and make research accessible and inviting. Dr. Coomer’s long-term goal is to uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms that enable neural circuit repair. As a teacher, mentor, and researcher she seeks to inspire the next generation of scientists, particularly those from historically underrepresented communities.