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Siobhan Craige, PhD

Assistant Professor
  • Focus area(s): Exercise metabolism; redox signaling in health and disease; vascular influence on diet and exercise
woman smiling at camera
1012 ILSB
craigesm@vt.edu
540-231-4149

Education

Ph.D., Biochemistry, Emory University

B.S., Biology, Emory University

Experience

2018 – present: Assistant Professor, Department of HNFE, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA

2017 – 2018: Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

2014 – 2017: Instuctor, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

Selected Major Awards

  • 2023 – University Libraries Collaborative Research Grant
  • 2023 – HNFE S.J. Ritchey Fund for Faculty Pilot Studies
  • 2022 – VT Office of Undergraduate Research Faculty Grant + Supplement    
  • 2021 – VT CALS Global Faculty Partnership Initiative Award (Institute of Physiology CAS)
  • 2019 – 2024 – NIAMS K01 AR073332 (5 years)     
  • 2018 – VT CALS Global Faculty Partnership Initiative Award (Karolinska)
  • 2017 – Oklahoma Nathan Shock Center Pilot Project Award

Program Focus

The central focus of the Craige Lab's research is understanding how cells/tissues communicate with each other to sense and respond to environmental changes (e.g., diet, exercise, disease, etc.). Although the significance of diet and exercise for health is widely recognized, the intricate molecular signaling underlying their effects remains unclear. The Craige Lab areas of specific focus include understanding the intercellular communication between endothelial cells and skeletal muscle cells in response to exercise stress, investigating the impact of intra- and inter-cellular redox signaling on age-related alterations in skeletal muscle, and examining the influence of high-fat diet-induced stress on sexually dimorphic redox responses in bone.

The Craige Lab

Selected Recent Publications

  • Kant S, Tran KV, Kvandova M, Caliz AD, Yoo HJ, Learnard H, Dolan AC, Craige SM, Hall JD, Jiménez JM, St Hilaire C, Schulz E, Kröller-Schön S, Keaney JF Jr. PGC1α Regulates the Endothelial Response to Fluid Shear Stress via Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Control of Heme Oxygenase-1. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2022 Jan;42(1):19-34. PMID: 34789002.
  • Nichenko AS, Specht KS, Craige SM, Drake JC. Sensing local energetics to acutely regulate mitophagy in skeletal muscle. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022 Aug 29;10:987317. PMID: 36105350. Review
  • Azzimato V, Chen P, Barreby E, Morgantini C, Levi L, Vankova A, Jager J, Sulen A, Diotallevi M, Shen JX, Miller A, Ellis E, Rydén M, Na Slund E, Thorell A, Lauschke VM, Channon KM, Crabtree MJ, Haschemi A, Craige SM, Mori M, Spallotta F, Aouadi M. Hepatic miR-144 drives fumarase activity preventing NRF2 activation during obesity. Gastroenterology. 2021 Aug 20:S0016-5085(21)03410-7. PMID: 34132685.
  • Specht KS, Kant S, Addington AK, McMillan R, Hulver MW, Learnard H, Campbell M, Donnelly S, Caliz AD, Pei Y, Reif M, Bond J, DeMarco A, Craige B, Keaney JF Jr, Craige SM. Nox4 mediates skeletal muscle metabolic responses to exercise. Mol Metab. 2021 Mar; 45:101160. PMID: 33400973.
  • Azzimato V, Jager J, Chen P, Morgantini C, Levi L, Barreby E, Sulen A, Oses C, Willerbrords J, Xu C, Li X, Shen JX, Akbar N, Haag L, Ellis E, Wålhen K, Näslund E, Thorell A, Choudhury RP, Lauschke VM, Rydén M, Craige SM, Aouadi M. Liver macrophages inhibit the endogenous antioxidant response in obesity-associated insulin resistance. Sci Transl Med. 2020 Feb 26;12(532). PMID: 32102936.
  • Kant S, Craige SM, Chen K, Reif MM, Learnard H, Kelly M, Caliz AD, Tran K-V, Ramo K, Peters O, Freeman M, Davis RJ, and Keaney JF; Neural JNK3 regulates blood flow recovery after hindlimb ischemia in mice via an Egr1/Creb1 axis. Nat Commun. 2019 Sep 17;10(1):4223. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11982-4. PMID: 31530804; PMCID: PMC6748991.
  • Min SY, Learnard H, Kant S, Gealikman O, Rojas-Rodriguez R, DeSouza T, Desai A, Keaney JF, Corvera S, Craige SM*. Exercise Rescues Gene Pathways Involved in Vascular Expansion and Promotes Functional Angiogenesis in Subcutaneous White Adipose Tissue. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Apr 25;20(8). pii: E2046. PMID: 31027261.*Corresponding Author
  • Craige SM, Chen K, Blanton R, Keaney JF, and Kant S; JNK and cardiometabolic dysfunction. Biosci Rep. 2019 Jul 3. pii: BSR20190267. Review

For full list of publications: PubMed