Craige Lab
CRAIGE LAB RESEARCH OVERVIEW
You likely know that exercise helps prevent many diseases, but what signals drive this protection? The Craige Lab studies the signals behind exercise metabolism, focusing on skeletal muscle, liver, and bone. Our main interest is in short-lived molecules called reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), which act as cellular messengers. Similar to a city's communication network during an emergency, RONS relay messages within and between cells, helping tissues adapt to stressors like exercise and diet.
CRAIGE LAB UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH INITIATIVE
Our lab prioritizes the integration of undergraduate students into our research program with the intention of providing tangible experience and unique training. In the context of a basic science lab with hands-on experiments, we accept a small number of students to our lab on a competitive basis. To expand opportunities further, we developed CURLS (CraigeLab Undergraduate Research and Leadership Series) with support from the Virginia Tech Office of Undergraduate Research. Using business project management strategies such as KanBan and Agile, CURLS aims to 1) provide leadership training to initiate student-led-mentoring 2) train students to think like scientists, and 3) foster a growth mindset.
JOINING THE CRAIGE LAB
The Craige Lab continually seeks highly motivated graduate and undergraduate students to join our team. While positions for undergraduates may be limited and often filled quickly, we always welcome inquiries from passionate individuals.
- Undergraduate Students: Contact Dr. Adele Addington at akadd90@vt.edu.
- Graduate Students: Contact Dr. Siobhan Craige at craigesm@vt.edu.
CRAIGE LAB FUNDING
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) R03: Endothelial Signaling in Exercise Metabolism
- NIAMS R01: Endothelial Reactive Oxygen Species in Exercise Metabolism
- CeZAP Pilot Funding: Leveraging Reactive Oxygen Species for Antiviral Therapy Against Chronic Alphavirus Disease
- NIAMS R56: Endothelial Reactive Oxygen Species in Exercise Metabolism
- Virginia Tech SJ Ritchey Research: Development of an undergraduate research project to investigate intercellular exercise signaling in cell culture.
- NIAMS K01: Reactive oxygen species drive muscle metabolism
- VT University Libraries Collaborative Research Grant: Developing a Canvas resource to promote undergraduate wet lab researcher success
- VT Office of Undergraduate Research Faculty Grant: Student-Led Team Approach to Gene and Protein Expression Investigations
- NIAMS F31 to graduate student Kalyn Specht (previous Craige Lab PhD student): NOX4 mediates the metabolic stress response in skeletal muscle
- Pre-doctoral American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) to Kalyn Specht: NOX4 mediates mitochondrial remodeling in skeletal muscle
Publications
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/siobhan.craige.1/bibliography/public/
The Endothelium as a Central Mediator of Exercise-Induced Metabolism and Communication. Craige SM. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2026 Jan 1;54(1):42-56. doi: 10.1249/JES.0000000000000376. Epub 2025 Oct 23. PMID: 41131688; PMCID: PMC12673906.
Ulk1(S555) inhibition alters nutrient stress response by prioritizing amino acid. metabolism.Willoughby OS, Nichenko AS, Brisendine MH, Amiri N, Henry SN, Braxton DS, Brown JR, Kraft BJ, Jenkins KS, Addington AK, Zaitsev AV, Burrows ST, McMillan RP, Zhang H, Tye SA, Najt CP, Craige SE, Rhoads TW, Warren JS, Drake JC. Mol Metab. 2026 Jan;103:102288. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2025.102288. Epub 2025 Nov 24. PMID: 41297881; PMCID: PMC12720300.
Distinct Endothelial Gene Responses to Acute Exercise in Skeletal Muscle. Addington A, Wall RM, Wei X, Frate SD, Olsen ML, Drake JC, Craige S. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2025 Aug 11. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00250.2025. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40789176 Free article.
The intersection of exercise, nitric oxide, and metabolism: Unraveling the role of eNOS in skeletal muscle and beyond. Laird PR, Wall RM, Craige SM. Metabolism. 2025 Jul 30:156360. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2025.156360. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40749966 Free article. Review.
Sex-specific metabolic responses to high-fat diet in mice with NOX4 deficiency. Bond JM, Dzubanova M, Addington AK, Najt CP, Gilbert ER, Tencerova M, Craige SM. Redox Biol. 2025 Sep;85:103698. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2025.103698. Epub 2025 Jun 6. PMID: 40517601 Free article.
DECORIN, a triceps-derived myokine, protects sorted β-cells and human islets against chronic inflammation associated with type 2 diabetes. Langlois A, Cherfan J, Meugnier E, Rida A, Arous C, Peronet C, Hamdard H, Zarrouki B, Wehrle-Haller B, Pinget M, Craige SM, Bouzakri K. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2025 Feb;241(2):e14267. doi: 10.1111/apha.14267. PMID: 39844653 Free PMC article.
Interplay of ROS, mitochondrial quality, and exercise in aging: Potential role of spatially discrete signaling. Craige SM, Mammel RK, Amiri N, Willoughby OS, Drake JC. Redox Biol. 2024 Nov;77:103371. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2024.103371. Epub 2024 Sep 24. PMID: 39357424 Free PMC article. Review. No abstract available.
Endothelial Reactive Oxygen Species: Key Players in Cardiovascular Health and Disease. Craige SM, Kaur G, Bond JM, Caliz AD, Kant S, Keaney JF Jr. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2025 Jun;42(16-18):905-932. doi: 10.1089/ars.2024.0706. Epub 2024 Sep 30. PMID: 39213161 Review.
NOX4-reactive oxygen species axis: critical regulators of bone health and metabolism. Dzubanova M, Bond JM, Craige SM, Tencerova M. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2024 Aug 12;12:1432668. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1432668. eCollection 2024. PMID: 39188529 Free PMC article. Review.
Brisendine MH, Nichenko AS, Bandara AB, Willoughby OS, Amiri N, Weingrad Z, Specht KS, Bond JM, Addington A, Jones RG 3rd, Murach KA, Poelzing S, Craige SM, Grange RW, Drake JC. Neuromuscular Dysfunction Precedes Cognitive Impairment in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease. Function (Oxf). 2024;5(1):zqad066. doi: 10.1093/function/zqad066. eCollection 2024. PubMed PMID: 38111538; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10727840.
CURRENT CRAIGE LAB COLLABORATIONS:
Drake Lab: ROS and mitophagy
Tencerova Lab: NOX4 in bone health and metabolism
Bouzakri Group: Exerkines in interorgan crosstalk