Charlotte A. Peterson, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physical Therapy and member of the Center for Muscle Biology (CMB). She served as Associate Dean for Research in the College from 2006-2016 and director of the CMB from 2015-2021. In 2016 she accepted an appointment at the NIH through an Intergovernmental Personnel Appointment to serve as scientific advisor to the Office of the Director’s Common Fund Initiative entitled “Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium” (MoTrPAC). MoTrPAC is a multi-institutional consortium that includes pre-clinical animal studies, clinical trials, and analyses and bioinformatics centers with the goal of discovering the molecules and pathways responsible for physical activity’s benefits for human health. She served in that capacity for 2 years and currently is a member of the National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA) while continuing to oversee her extramurally-funded research program in the College. Dr. Peterson is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America

Research Focus

Dr. Peterson’s research focuses on elucidation of cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling skeletal muscle structure and function. She has been continuously funded through federal research grants since 1992 and is currently funded by the NIH to study the role of adult stem cells in muscle maintenance and adaptation; the influence of obesity and inflammation on muscle function; interventions to maintain muscle health in the face of chronic disease and during aging; and strategies to improve exercise outcomes in the elderly. Her long-term goal is to develop new strategies to prevent frailty and loss of functional independence.

Publications

• Walton, R.G., C.M. Dungan, D.E. Long, S.C. Tuggle, K. Kosmac, B.D. Peck, H.M. Bush, A.G. Villasante Tezanos, G. McGwin, S.T. Windham, F. Ovalle, M.M. Bamman, P.A. Kern, C.A. Peterson (2019). Metformin blunts muscle hypertrophy in response to progressive resistance exercise training in older adults: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial. Aging Cell, doi: 10.1111/acel.13039.
• Kosmac, K., M. Gonzalez-Freire, M.M. McDermott, S.H. White, R.G. Walton, R.L. Sufit, L. Tian, L. Li, M.R. Kibbe, M.H. Criqui, J.M. Guralnik, T. Polonsky, C. Leeuwenburgh, L. Ferrucci, C.A. Peterson (2020). Correlations of calf muscle macrophage content with muscle properties and walking performance in peripheral artery disease. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 9:e015929. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.118.015929.
• Englund, D.A., K.A. Murach, C.M. Dungan, V. Casa-Figueiredo, I. J. Vechetti, E.E. Dupont-Versteegden, J.J. McCarthy, C.A. Peterson (2020). Depletion of resident muscle stem cells negatively impacts running volume, physical function and muscle hypertrophy in response to lifelong physical activity. Am. J. Physiol. 318:C1178-C1188.  doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00090.2020. 
• Murach K.A., I.J. Vechetti, D.W. Van Pelt, S.E. Crow, C.M. Dungan, V.C. Figueiredo, K. Kosmac, X. Fu, C.I. Richards, C.S. Fry, J.J. McCarthy, Peterson CA (2020). Fusion-independent satellite cell communication to muscle fibers during load-induced hypertrophy. Function 1: 1-15. doi: 10.1093/function/zqaa009.
• Englund, D.A., V.C. Figueiredo, C.M. Dungan, K.A. Murach, B.D. Peck, J.M. Petrosino, C.R. Brightwell, A.M. Dupont, A.C. Neal, C.S. Fry, F. Accornero, J.J. McCarthy, C.A. Peterson (2021). Satellite cell depletion leads to a dysregulated myonuclear and whole muscle transcriptional response to exercise and limits muscle adaption and growth. Function 2. doi: 10.1093/function/zqaa033.
• Murach, K.A., B.D. Peck, R.A. Policastro, I.J. Vechetti, D.W. Van Pelt, C.M. Dungan, L.T. Denes, X. Fu, C.R. Brightwell, G.E. Zentner, E.E. Dupont-Versteegden, C.I. Richards, E.T. Wang, J.J. Smith, C.S. Fry, J.J. McCarthy, C.A. Peterson (2021). Early satellite cell communication creates a permissive environment for long-term muscle hypertrophic growth. iScience 24: 102372. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102372
• Vechetti, I.J., B.D. Peck, Y. Wen, R.G. Walton, T.R. Valentino, A.P. Alimov, C.M. Dungan, D.W. Van Pelt, F. von Walden, B. Alkner, C.A. Peterson, J.J. McCarthy (2021). Mechanical overload-induced muscle-derived extracellular vesicles promote adipose tissue lipolysis. FASEB J. 2021;35e21644. doi: 10.1096/fj.202100242R
• Wen, Y., D.A. Englund, B.D. Peck, K.A. Murach, J.J. McCarthy, C.A. Peterson (2021). Myonuclear transcriptional dynamics in response to exercise following satellite cell depletion. iScience, doi: S2589-0042(21)00806-3
• Lavin, K.M., M.B. Bell, J.S. McAdam, B.D. Peck, R.G. Walton, S.T. Windham, S.C. Tuggle, D.E. Long, P.A. Kern, C.A. Peterson, M.M. Bamman (2021). Muscle transcriptional networks linked to resistance exercise training hypertrophic response heterogeneity. Physiologic Genomics 53: 206–221, 2021.doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00154.2020
• Dungan, C.M., K.A. Murach, C.J. Zdunek, Z.J. Tang, G.L. VonLehmden, C.R. Brightwell, A. Hettinger, D.A. Englund, Z. Liu, C.S. Fry, A. Filareto, M. Franti, C.A. Peterson (2021). Deletion of SA β-Gal+ cells using senolytics improves muscle regeneration in old mice. Aging Cell, doi: 10.1111/acel.13528
• Peck, B.D., K.A. Murach, R.G. Walton, A.J. Simmons, D.E. Long, K. Kosmac, C.M. Dungan, P.A. Kern, M.M. Bamman, C.A. Peterson (2022). A muscle cell-macrophage axis involving matrix metalloproteinase 14 facilitates extracellular matrix remodeling with mechanical loading. FASEB J, doi: 10.1096/fj.202100182RR 
• Long, D.E., B.D. Peck, K.M. Lavin, C.M. Dungan, K. Kosmac, S.C. Tuggle, M.M. Bamman, P.A. Kern, C.A. Peterson (2022). Skeletal muscle properties show collagen organization and immune cell content are associated with resistance exercise response heterogeneity in older persons. J. Appl. Physiol., doi. 10.1152/japplphysiol.00025.2022.
• Jones. R.G., A. Dimet-Wiley, A.Haghani, F.M. da Silva, C.R. Brightwell, S. Lim, S. Khadgi, Y. Wen, C.M. Dungan, R.T. Brooke, N.P. Greene, C.A. Peterson, J.J. McCarthy, S. Horvath, S.J. Watowich, C.S. Fry, K.A. Murach (2022). A molecular signature defining exercise adaptation with ageing and in vivo partial reprogramming in skeletal muscle. J. Physiol., doi: 10.1113/JP283836
• Ferrucci L., J. Candia, C. Ubaida-Mohien, A. Lyashkov, N. Banskota, C. Leeuwenburgh, S. Wohlgemuth, J.M. Guralnik, M. Kaileh, D. Zhang, R. Sufit, S. De, M. Gorospe, R. Munk, C.A. Peterson, M.M. McDermott. (2023). Transcriptomic and proteomic of gastrocnemius muscle in peripheral artery disease. Circ Res. 132:1428-1443.  doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.122.322325