Craig Stevens
Craig Stevens

Dr Craig Stevens

Associate Professor

 0131 455 2930

  C.Stevens@napier.ac.uk

  

Biography

Dr Craig Stevens BSc PhD FHEA is Associate Professor and Principal Investigator (PI) within the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU). Craig completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in 1999 and his PhD from the University of Glasgow in 2004 where he studied the role of E2F transcription factors in DNA damage checkpoint control within the group of Prof Nick LaThangue. In 2004, he moved to the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre within the Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine (IGMM) at the University of Edinburgh for his first Postdoctoral Research position, joining the Cell Signalling Laboratory of Prof Ted Hupp where his research focused on the control of cell growth by mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTORC1) and death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) signalling pathways. Craig stayed at the IGMM for a Senior Research Fellow position, joining the Gastroenterology Laboratory of Prof Jack Satsangi to investigate the role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), specifically Crohn’s disease (CD). During this time Craig helped to secure funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC), Chief Scientist Office (CSO) and the National Association of Crohn’s and Colitis (NACC).

In 2012, Craig joined the School of Applied Sciences at ENU as Lecturer and PI, was appointed Research Leader in Biomedical Sciences in October 2016 and promoted to Associate Professor in August 2018. At ENU Craig's academic role focuses on both research and teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Research in Craig’s group is currently supported by funding from Crohn's in Childhood Research Association (CICRA) and the CSO and focusses on three main areas:

1. Understanding the role of autophagy in CD.
2. Investigating the mechanism of action of drugs commonly used to treat patients with IBD.
3. The role of host defence peptides in IBD.

The potential for translational research results from Craig's strong collaborative links with ongoing IBD research at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh (Dr Paul Henderson, Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist) and University of Oxford (Prof Jack Satsangi, Consultant Physician). Craig also has strong collaborative links at ENU with Dr Peter Barlow investigating novel peptide based therapeutics for the treatment of IBD.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Expert reviewer for the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), Ireland
  • Expert reviewer for Fondation Innovations en Infectiologie (Finovi), France

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • ER Stress, Autophagy & immune system, Bruges, Belgium
  • International congress of Mucosal Immunology, Washington, USA
  • European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) congress, Barcelona, Spain
  • Autophagy UK meeting, London, England
  • European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) Conference, Autophagy, from molecular principals to human diseases, Dubrovnik, Croatia
  • Autophagy UK meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • BSPGHAN annual meeting, Glasgow, Scotland

 

Editorial Activity

  • Editorial Board of Advances in Biology

 

Grant Reviewer

  • Medical Research Council Peer Review

 

Invited Speaker

  • British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG), 1st Supraregional Meeting - Workshop: Intestinal Inflammation, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • United European Gastroenterology Week (UEGW), Stockholm, Sweden
  • British Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (BSPGHAN) annual meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Edinburgh Organoid Network
  • British Society for Immunology
  • Edinburgh Infectious Diseases Network

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Crohn’s in Childhood Research Association (CICRA) academic panel that meets children and families with IBD
  • STEM ambassador

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • MRes student for the University of Edinburgh

 

Reviewing

  • Journal of Crohn's and Colitis
  • Journal of Medical Microbiology
  • Toxicology Letters
  • Journal of Cancer
  • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

 

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Date


38 results

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

Journal Article
Klionsky, D. J., Kamal Abdel-Aziz, A., Abdelfatah, S., Abdellatif, M., Abdoli, A., Abel, S., …et al., . (2021)
Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition). Autophagy, 17(1), 1-382. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2020.1797280
In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have e...

Models of osteoarthritis: relevance and new insights

Journal Article
Samvelyan, H., Hughes, D., Stevens, C., & Staines, K. A. (2021)
Models of osteoarthritis: relevance and new insights. Calcified Tissue International, 109(3), 243-256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-020-00670-x
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive and disabling musculoskeletal disease affecting millions of people and resulting in major healthcare costs worldwide. It is the most commo...

Citrullination Alters the Antiviral and Immunomodulatory Activities of the Human Cathelicidin LL-37 During Rhinovirus Infection

Journal Article
Casanova, V., Sousa, F. H., Shakamuri, P., Svoboda, P., Buch, C., D'Acremont, M., …Barlow, P. G. (2020)
Citrullination Alters the Antiviral and Immunomodulatory Activities of the Human Cathelicidin LL-37 During Rhinovirus Infection. Frontiers in Immunology, 11, https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00085
Human rhinoviruses (HRV) are the most common cause of viral respiratory tract infections. While normally mild and self-limiting in healthy adults, HRV infections are associate...

Design of a New Peptide Substrate Probe of the Putative Biomarker Legumain with Potential Application in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis ex vivo

Journal Article
Mathur, S., Turnbull, A., Akaev, I., Stevens, C., Agrawal, N., Chopra, M., & Mincher, D. (2020)
Design of a New Peptide Substrate Probe of the Putative Biomarker Legumain with Potential Application in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis ex vivo. International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics, 26, 1965-1980. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10989-019-09994-1
The lysosomal endoprotease legumain (asparaginyl endoprotease) has been proposed as a putative biomarker in prostate tumours, in which the enzyme is markedly overexpressed. Ov...

Azathioprine Has a Deleterious Effect on the Bone Health of Mice with DSS-Induced Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Journal Article
Morgan, S., Hooper, K. M., Milne, E. M., Farquharson, C., Stevens, C., & Staines, K. A. (2019)
Azathioprine Has a Deleterious Effect on the Bone Health of Mice with DSS-Induced Inflammatory Bowel Disease. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(23), https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20236085
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often present poor bone health and are 40% more at risk of bone fracture. Studies have implicated autophagy in IBD pathology and...

Regulation of the expression of DAPK1 by SUMO pathway.

Journal Article
Wang, Q., Zhang, X., Chen, L., Weng, S., Xia, Y., Ye, Y., …Lin, Y. (2019)
Regulation of the expression of DAPK1 by SUMO pathway. Biomolecules, 9(4), 151. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9040151
Death Associated Protein Kinase 1 (DAPK1) is an important signaling kinase mediating the biological e ect of multiple natural biomolecules such as IFN-, TNF- , curcumin, etc. ...

The inflammatory bowel disease drug azathioprine induces autophagy via mTORC1 and the unfolded protein response sensor PERK

Journal Article
Hooper, K. M., Casanova, V., Kemp, S., Staines, K. A., Satsangi, J., Barlow, P. G., …Stevens, C. (2019)
The inflammatory bowel disease drug azathioprine induces autophagy via mTORC1 and the unfolded protein response sensor PERK. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 25(9), 1481-1496. https://doi.org/10.1093/ibd/izz039
Background Genetic studies have strongly linked autophagy to Crohn's disease (CD) and stimulating autophagy in CD patients may be therapeutically beneficial. The aim of this s...

The type III intermediate filament vimentin regulates organelle distribution and modulates autophagy

Journal Article
Biskou, O., Casanova, V., Hooper, K., Kemp, S., Wright, G. P., Satsangi, J., …Stevens, C. (2019)
The type III intermediate filament vimentin regulates organelle distribution and modulates autophagy. PLOS ONE, 14(1), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209665
The cytoskeletal protein vimentin plays a key role in positioning of organelles within the cytosol and has been linked to the regulation of numerous cellular processes includi...

Interactions Between Autophagy and the Unfolded Protein Response: Implications for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Journal Article
Hooper, K. M., Barlow, P. G., Henderson, P., & Stevens, C. (2019)
Interactions Between Autophagy and the Unfolded Protein Response: Implications for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 25(4), 661-671. https://doi.org/10.1093/ibd/izy380
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which includes Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis, is characterised by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Aetiology...

Antiviral therapeutic approaches for human rhinovirus infections

Journal Article
Casanova, V., Sousa, F. H., Stevens, C., & Barlow, P. G. (2018)
Antiviral therapeutic approaches for human rhinovirus infections. Future Virology, https://doi.org/10.2217/fvl-2018-0016
Human rhinoviruses (RV) are the primary etiological agent of the common cold. This infection can be mild and self-limiting in immunocompetent hosts, but can be associated wit...

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