Tara Croston, PhD

Adjunct Associate Service Fellow

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Microbiology, Immunology & Cell Biology

Classification:

Adjunct Faculty

NTP Technical Report on the Toxicity Studies of Aspergillus Fumigatus Administered by Inhalation to B6C3F1/N Mice. (2021). United States: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Toxicology Program.

Ladd TB, Johnson Jr JA, Mumaw CL, Greve HJ, Xuei X, Simpson E, Barnes MA, Green BJ, Croston TL, Ahmed C, Lemons AR, Beezhold DH, Block ML. Aspergillus versicolor Inhalation Triggers Neuroimmune, Glial, and Neuropeptide Transcriptional Changes. ASN neuro. 2021 Jun;13:17590914211019886.

Rush RE, Dannemiller KC, Cochran SJ, Haines SR, Acosta L, Divjan A, Rundle AG, Miller RL, Perzanowski MS, Croston TL, Green BJ. Vishniacozyma victoriae (syn. Cryptococcus victoriae) in the Homes of Asthmatic and Non-asthmatic Children in New York City. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-021-00342-4

Lim C, Porter D, Orandle M, Green B, Barnes M, Croston T, Wolfarth M, Battelli L, Beezhold D, Siegel P, Ma Q [2019]. Resolution of Pulmonary Inflammation Induced by Carbon Nanotubes and Fullerenes in Mice: Role of Macrophage Polarization. Front. Immunol., 2020 June. doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01186

Croston TL, Lemons AR, Barnes MA, Goldsmith WT, Orandle MS, Nayak AP, Rush RE, Germolec DR, Green BJ, Beezhold DH. Inhalation of Stachybotrys chartarum fragments induces pulmonary arterial remodeling. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2020 May;62(5):563-576. doi: 10.1165/rcmb.2019-0221OC. (PMID: 31671270)

Lemons AR, Croston TL, Goldsmith WT, Barnes MA, Jaderson M, Park JY, McKinney W, Beezhold DH, Green BJ. Cultivation and aerosolization of Stachybotrys chartarum for modeling murine pulmonary inhalation exposure. Inhal Tox. 2019 Nov - Dec;31(13-14):446-456.

Nayak AP, Croston TL, Lemons AR, Goldsmith WT, Marshall NB, Kashon ML, Germolec DR, Beezhold DH, Green BJ. Aspergillus fumigatus viability drives allergic responses to inhaled conidia. Ann Allery Asthma Immunol. 2018 Apr; 121(2):200-210. (PMID: 29660515)

Croston TL, Lemons AR, Beezhold DH, Green BJ. MicroRNA regulation of host immune responses following fungal exposure. Review. Front Immuno. 2018 Feb; 9:170. (PMID: 29467760)

Germolec DR, Nayak AP, Green BJ, Lemons AR, Croston TL, Goldsmith WT, Beezhold DH. Subchronic exposure to fungal spores promotes allergic pulmonary inflammation. Toxicology Letters. 2016 Oct. 259:S26.

Croston TL, Nayak AP, Lemons AR, Goldsmith WT, Gu JK, Germolec DR, Beezhold DH, Green BJ. Influence of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia viability on murine pulmonary microRNA and mRNA expression following subchronic inhalation exposure. Clin Exp Allergy. 2016 Oct; 46(10):1315-1327. (PMID: 27473664)

Shepherd DL, Nichols CE, Croston TL, McLaughlin SL, Petrone AB, Lewis SE, Thapa D, Long DM, Dick GM, Hollander JM. Early detection of cardiac dysfunction in the type 1 diabetic heart using speckle-tracking based strain imaging. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2016; 90: 74–83. (PMID: 26654913)

O'Connell GC, Nichols C, Guo G, Croston TL, Thapa D, Hollander JM, Pistilli EE. IL-15Rα deficiency in skeletal muscle alters respiratory function and the proteome of mitochondrial subpopulations independent of changes to the mitochondrial genome. Mitochondrion. 2015; 25:87-97. (PMID: 26458787)

Jagannathan R, Thapa D, Nichols CE, Shepherd DL,  Stricker JC, Croston TL, Baseler WA, Lewis SE, Martinez I, Hollander JM. Translational Regulation of the Mitochondrial Genome Following Redistribution of Mitochondrial MicroRNA in the Diabetic Heart. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2015; 8(6): 785-802. (PMID: 26377859)

Thapa D, Nichols CE, Lewis SE, Shepherd DL, Jagannathan R, Croston TL, Tveter KJ, Holden AA, Baseler WA, Hollander JM. Transgenic overexpression of mitofilin attenuated diabetes mellitus-associated cardiac and mitochondria dysfunction. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2015; 79:212-23. (PMID:26377859)

Croston TL, Thapa D, Holden AA, Tveter KJ, Lewis SE, Shepherd DL, Nichols CE, Long DM, Olfert IM, Jagannathan R, Hollander JM. Functional Deficiencies in Subsarcolemmal Mitochondria in the Type 2 Diabetic Human Heart. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 201; 307(1):H54-H65. (PMID: 24778174)

Croston TL, Shepherd DL, Jagannathan R, Thapa D, Nichols CE, Lewis SE, Dabkowski ER, Baseler WA, Hollander JM. Evaluation of the cardiolipin biosynthetic pathway and its interactions in the diabetic heart. Life Sci. 2013; 93(8):313-322. (PMID: 23872101)

Baseler WA, Dabkowski ER, Jagannathan R, Thapa D, Nichols CE, Shepherd DL, Croston TL, Powell M, Razunguzwa TT, Lewis SE, Schnell DM, Hollander JH. Reversal of Mitochondrial Proteomic Loss in Type 1 Diabetic Heart with Overexpression of Phospholipid Hydroperoxide Glutathione Peroxidase. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2012 304(7):R553-R565. (PMID: 23408027)

Baseler WA, Thapa D, Jagannathan R, Dabkowski ER, Croston TL, Hollander JH. miR-141 as a Regulator of the Mitochondrial Phosphate Carrier (Slc25a3) in the Type 1 Diabetic Heart. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2012; 303(12):C1244-C1251. (PMID:23034391)

Baseler WA, Dabkowski ER, Williamson CL, Croston TL, Thapa D, Powell MJ, Razunguzwa TT, Hollander JM. Proteomic alterations of distinct mitochondrial subpopulations in the type 1 diabetic heart: contribution of protein import dysfunction. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2011 Feb; 300(2):R186-200. (PMID: 21048079)

Williamson CL, Dabkowski ER, Baseler WA, Croston TL, Alway SE, Hollander JM. Enhanced apoptotic propensity in diabetic cardiac mitochondria: influence of subcellular spatial location.  Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2010 Feb; 298(2):H633-42. (PMID: 19966057)

Allergy and Clinical Immunology Branch of the Health Effects Laboratory Division at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

I am a Research Biologist in the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Branch of the Health Effects Laboratory Division at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown, WV. I have worked at NIOSH for the past 8 years conducting research in the field of allergy and immunology. My team is interested in microbial exposure assessment, and identifying and characterizing occupational allergens. My research includes investigating the immunotoxicological and physiological responses following exposure to environmentally relevant fungal species. Currently, we are conducting research to examine specific mechanisms underlying the pulmonary arterial remodeling and immune response following repeated exposure to Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus versicolor. In addition to completing immunotoxicology studies of fungal exposure for the National Toxicology Program, my team collaborates with scientists across multiple fields of study investigating the pulmonary immunological responses to nanoparticles and metalworking fluids, as well as testing new immunoassays to identify specific cannabis allergens and assessing the fungal diversity within different environments using advanced methodologies.

Lab Members:

Tara Croston, PhD – Team Lead
Angela Lemons, MS – Laboratory manager
Catherine Blackwood, PhD – Postdoc
Rachael Rush, BS – Graduate student