William T Stauber , PT, PhD

William T. Stauber, PT, Ph.D., FACSM Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 26506-9229 Born in East Orange, New Jersey, William Stauber received degrees from Ithaca College (B.S., Physical Therapy) and R...

Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Physiology, Pharmacology & Toxicology

Classification:

Clinical Faculty

Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Human Performance - Physical Therapy

Classification:

Faculty

• MS, Rutgers University, New Brunswick(Dr. John W.C. Bird), NJ, 1969
• BS, Physical Therapy (Magna Cum Laude), Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, 1967
• PhD, Rutgers University (Dr. John W.C. Bird), New Brunswick, NJ, 1972

Selected peer-reviewed publications (in chronological order, elected from 89 peer-reviewed publications).

1.  Stauber, W.T., Fritz, V.K., Clarkson, P.M. and J.E. Riggs. 1991.  An injury myopathy mimicking dystrophy:  Implications regarding the function of dystrophin. Med. Hypotheses. 35: 358-362.

2.  Stauber, W.T., G.R. Miller, J.G. Grimmett and K.K. Knack. 1994.  Adaptation of rat soleus muscles to intermittent chronic strain.  J. Appl. Physiol. 71:58-62. 

3.  Gibala, M.J., MacDougall, J.D., Tarnopolsky, M.A., Stauber, W.T. and A. Elorriaga. 1995.  Changes in human skeletal muscle ultrastructure and force production after acute resistance exercise.  J. Appl.  Physiol. 78(2): 702-708.

4.  Stauber, W.T., Miller, G.R., Gibala, M.J., and J.D. MacDougall. 1995.  Use of double labeling and photo CD for morphometric analysis of injured skeletal muscle. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 43 (11): 1179-1184.

5.  Stauber, W.T.  Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, In: Athletic Injuries and Rehabilitation, Zachazewski, J., Magee, D., and W. Quillen (eds), Saunders, Philadelphia, PA, 1996, pp. 92-98.

6.  Stauber, W.T., Knack, K.K., Miller, G.R., and J.G. Grimmett.  1996.  Fibrosis and intercellular collagen connections from four weeks of muscle strains. Muscle & Nerve 19: 423-430.

7.  Cutlip, R.G., Stauber, W.T., Willison, R.H., McIntosh, T.A., and K.H. Means.  1997.  A dynamometer for the measurement of rat plantar flexor muscles in vivo. Med. Biol. Engin. & Comput. 35: 540-543.

8.  Stauber, W.T., and C.A. Smith.  1998.  Cellular responses in exertion-induced skeletal muscle injury. Molecular Cell. Biochem.  179: 169-176.

9.  Stauber, W.T., Miller, G.R., and J.G. Grimmett.  1998.  Adaptation of rat gastrocnemius muscles to 2 wk of centrifugation:  Myofibers and Matrix.  Aviation, Space Environ. Med. 69(6) Suppl: A45-A48.

10.  Willems, M. E.T. and W. T. Stauber.  1999.  Static and dynamic actions of rat plantar-flexor muscles in vivo.  Exp. Physiol. 84: 379-389.

11.  Miller, G.R., Smith, C.A. and W. T. Stauber.  1999.  Determination of fibrosis from cryostat sections using high performance liquid chromatography:  Skeletal muscle.  Histochem. J. 31: 89-94.

12.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2000.  Force output during and following active stretches of rat plantar flexor muscles: effect of velocity of ankle rotation.  J Biomech 33: 1035-1038.

13.  Stauber, W.T., Barill, E.R., Stauber, R.E., and G.R. Miller.  2000.  Isotonic dynamometry for the assessment of power and fatigue in the knee extensor muscles of females.  Clinical Physiology 20: 225-233.

14.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2000.  Performance of plantar flexor muscles with eccentric and isometric contractions in intact rats.  Med Sci Sports Exerc 32 (7): 1293-1299.

15.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2000.  Effect of resistance training on muscle fatigue and recovery in intact rats.  Med Sci Sports Exerc 32 (11): 1887-1893.

16.  Stauber, W.T., Smith, C.A., Miller, G.R., and Stauber, F.D.  2000.  Recovery of rat soleus muscles from 6 weeks of repeated strain injury.  Muscle & Nerve 23: 1819-1825.

17.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2000.  Changes in force by repeated stretches of skeletal muscle in female Sprague Dawley rats.  Aging: Clinical and Experimental Research 12: 478-481.

18.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2000.  Force during stretches of rat skeletal muscles after hypertonia at short and  long lengths. Arch. Physiol. Biochem.108: 391-397.

19.  Willems, M. E. T., Miller, G.R. and W.T. Stauber.  2001.  Force deficits after stretches of activated rat muscle-tendon complex with reduced collagen cross-links.  Euro. J. Appl. Physiol. 85: 405-411.

20.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2001.  Force deficits after repeated stretches of activated skeletal muscle in female and male rats. Acta Physiologica Scand.172: 63-67.

21.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2002.  Force deficits by stretches of activated muscles with constant or increasing velocity.  Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 34: 667-672.

22.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2002.  Effect of contraction history on torque deficits by stretches of active rat skeletal muscles. Cand. J. Appl. Physiol. 27:  323-335.

23.  Willems, M. E. T. and W.T. Stauber.  2002.  Fatigue and recovery at long and short muscle lengths following resistance training. Med. Sci. Sports & Exerc. 34: 1738-1743.

24.  Stauber, W.T. and M.E.T. Willems.  2002.  Prevention of histopathologic changes from 30 repeated stretches of active rat skeletal muscles depends on inter-stretch rest time.  Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 88: 94-99.

25.  Willems, M.E.T. and W.T. Stauber.  2003.  Attenuation of stretch-induced histopathologic changes of skeletal muscle by quinacrine.  Muscle & Nerve 27: 65-71.

26.  Stauber, W.T.  2004.  Factors involved in strain-induced injury in skeletal muscles and outcomes of prolonged exposures.  J. Electromyography & Kinesiology 14 (1): 61-70.

27.  Smith, C.S., Waters, C., Always, S.E., Stauber, F.D. and W.T. Stauber.  2007.  Transforming growth factor beta following skeletal muscle strain injury.  J Appl Physiol 102: 755–761.

28.  Hickman, D. M. and W.T. Stauber.  2007.  Mapping mandibular rest in humans utilizing electromyographic patterns from masticatory muscles.  J. Craniomandibular Practice 25(4): 264-272.

29.  Willems, M.E.T. and W.T. Stauber.  2009.  The effect of number of lengthening contractions on rat isometric force production at different frequencies of nerve stimulation.  Acta Physiologica 196: 351-356.

30.  Willems, M.E.T., Gerald R. Miller, G.R., Stauber, F.D. and W.T. Stauber.  2010.  Effects of repeated lengthening contractions on skeletal muscle adaptations in female rats.  J. Physiol. Sci. 60: 143-150.

  31.  Pistilli, E.E., Guo, G. and W.T. Stauber.  2012.  3IL-15Rα Deficiency leads to mitochondrial and myofiber differences in fast mouse muscles.  Cytokine 61: 41-45.

Honors and Awards.

North American Life Research Award for a study on knee dysfunction (1985),

Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (1987),

Nominated for Distinguished Teacher Award WVU (1990, 1991),

Cosmos Biosatellite Team, Group Achievement Award (NASA 1991),

Cosmos 2G Comparison Study Team, Group Achievement Award (NASA 1994),

Honorary Fellow of the International College of Craniomandibular Orthopedics (1995),

Invited speaker for the Steven Rose Memorial Lecture, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, for lifetime research contributions to Physical Therapy (1999),

Nominated for the John W. Traubert Award (2001),

Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award, West Virginia University, April, 2002.

Other Experience and Professional Memberships.

President, Comptex, Inc., 1982-2003 (Corp. was dissolved 4/2003).

Grant reviewer for NIH (ad hoc member of SEPs), NIOSH, NSF, NASA, DoD and private foundations as well as a manuscript reviewer for a wide variety of research journals.

Chairman of the Scientific/Medical Advisory Committee of MEDigital, Inc., Marietta, GA, 2000-2003.

Dr. William Stauber is a full professor in Physiology and Pharmacology at West Virginia University.  Dr. Stauber received degrees from Ithaca College (B.S., Physical Therapy) and Rutgers University (M.S., Ph.D., Physiology).  He was a Muscular Dystrophy Association and a NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Iowa before moving to Morgantown in 1979 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology.  Dr. Stauber also currently holds a joint appointment as Professor in the Division of Physical Therapy at West Virginia University.

Dr. Stauber is recognized as an excellent teacher and mentor to students and faculty.  For example, during the recent COVID shutdown, he developed a unique method for giving preliminary Ph.D. exams remotely that was successful and also reduced the students stress levels.  Additionally, he developed a unique, safe method for giving one-on-one exam reviews and conducting individual student counseling that received praise in student reviews (Fall 2020). 

Dr. Stauber is an internationally recognized scientist in the area of muscle adaptation to muscle damage and disease with 91 peer-reviewed manuscripts (one, single authored, with 445 citations (3/1/2021)), 9 book chapters and 75 abstracts.  Over the past 40 years, he has participated in continuing education courses in Physical Therapy both as a participant (149 courses) and an instructor (65 courses). 

Dr. Stauber was honored for his lifetime research contributions to Physical Therapy by being invited to give the Steven Rose Memorial Lecture at Washington University in 1999.  In April 2002, Dr. Stauber became a recipient of the Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award at West Virginia University.  In 2014, the Physical Therapy program at WVU established it’s student research award after Dr. Stauber.

Dr. Stauber is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and an honorary Fellow of the International College of Cranio-Mandibular Orthopedics.  He has served on special emphasis panels for the NIH, DoD, NIOSH and on panels to review NASA’s research on muscle atrophy and its prevention by exercise and myostimulation.  Dr. Stauber participated in the only muscle injury/repair experiment ever flown in space.  He has been funded by private agencies including the Foundation for Physical Therapy and Comptex, Inc. as well as NIH, NASA and NIOSH.

 

Dr. Stauber is currently the PI or Co-PI on 3 active research projects:

• W, Stauber, PT, Ph.D. Co-PI, J. Lewis, Ph.D. Co-PI,.  Somatic afferent stimulation to improve patient outcomes:  fMRI imaging., CTSI NIH $ 5,000.  Active.
• C. A. Smith, MD, Ph.D., PI, W. Stauber, PT, Ph.D., Co-PI.  Neuroelectrical Stimulation in Guillian Barre Syndrome. (Private donor foundation, $50,000), Active.
• William Stauber, PT, Ph.D., PI and J. McCrory, Ph.D., Co-PI.  Cutaneous electrical stimulation for the enhancement of exercise performance in healthy college students.  Project on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions (Unfunded).

 

Publications:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Stauber+WT   

 

Positions and Employment

Professor, Department of Neurology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 1984-2015.  

Professor, Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Human Performance and Applied Exercise Science, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 1993-present. 

Professor, Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 1985-present.  

Muscle physiology, exercise physiology, repetitive stress injuries, muscle injury and repair, and muscle fibrosis and movement dysfunction.

The effects of acute and chronic muscle strain injuries such as experienced in occupations where movements involving deceleration of body segments are studied. Skeletal muscle atrophy, growth and repair are common in strain-injured muscles. The importance of the extracellular matrix, material surrounding the muscle cells, as a control site for growth and repair is of special interest because fibrosis can develop from repeated injuries. Muscle fibrosis, which is the proliferation of collagen, can produce muscle dysfunction - often seen in muscle contractures. We built a rodent dynamometer to test the dynamic parameters (force, velocity, dose) involved in producing strain injuries in rats and to record changes in muscle strength and fatigue. Our studies revealed that complex interactions of functional parameters important in producing either a hypertrophic or fibrotic muscle. Knowledge of the parameters involved in muscle strain injuries is important in developing prevention strategies to improve worker health and well being.