Cerebrovascular Disease and Aging Laboratories

Richard P Kraig

Principal Investigator

Dr. Kraig graduated with a B.A. in Chemistry in 1971 from Cornell College under the mentorship of Dr. Addison Ault in 1971.  He later obtained his Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics in 1976 from the University of Iowa, M.D. from New York University in 1978, internship in Medicine from the University of Chicago in 1979, and residency in Neurology from the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical College in 1982.  Dr. Kraig completed his graduate training under the guidance of Dr. Charles Nicholson with the Llinás group, and later studied under Dr. Fred Plum for training in neurology.  These mentors helped nurture Dr. Kraig’s passion as an experimentalist to understand basic nervous system functions and how they relate to neurological disease.  Specifically, Dr. Kraig’s research focus centers on deciphering the mean by which increased intellectual, social, and physical activity makes brain more resilient against neurological disease.  Dr. Kraig joined the University of Chicago in 1988, where he now is the Mabie Professor in the Neurosciences in the Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology, Pharmacology & Physiology.  He is also a member of the Committees on Neurobiology, Molecular Pathogenesis & Molecular Medicine, and Computational Neuroscience.

Society Memberships

  • Society for Neuroscience (1976-present )
  • American Academy of Neurology (1980-present)
  • American Neurological Assocation (1994-present)
  • American Heart Association (2004-present)
  • American Headache Society (2006-present)
  • International Dose-Response Society (2008-present)

Select Publications

Pusic, K.M., Pusic, A.D., Kemme, J., Kraig, R.P. (2014) Spreading depression requires microglia and is decreased by their M2a polarization from environmental enrichment. Glia. Pub Med

Pusic, A.D., Pusic, K.M., Kraig, R.P. (2014) What are exosomes and how can they be used in multiple sclerosis therapy? Expert Rev Neurotherapeutics. PubMed

Pusic, A.D., Kraig, R.P. (2014) Youth and environmental enrichment generate serum exosomes containing miR-219 that promote CNS myelination. Glia.  PubMed

Pusic, A.D., Pusic, K.M., Kraig, R.P. (2014) IFNγ Stimulated dendritic cell exosomes as a potential therapeutic for remyelination. J Neuroimmunology.  PubMed   

Grinberg, Y.Y., Dibbern, M.E., Levasseur, V.A., Kraig, R.P. (2013) Insulin-like growth factor-1 abrogates microglial oxidative stress and TNF-α responses to spreading depression.  J Neurochem. PubMed