Education:
1998 - BSc, Biology, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK
2001 - PhD, Biology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL
2012 - PhD, Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City
Clinical/Research Interests:
My research primarily focuses on mitochondrial mechanisms and its effects on cognitive aging. I am particularly interested in the cell-specific alterations with age that make the aged brain more susceptible to cognitive decline during normal aging and in neurodegenerative conditions such as, Alzheimer’s disease. Astrocytes are an important cell type in the brain that have an integral role in the maintenance and modulation of neuronal health and function by supplying important trophic factors and energy substrates necessary for normal function. My lab delves into the mechanisms by which oxidative stress and the decline in a tropic hormone (IGF-1) changes with age mediate astrocytic responses and reactive gliosis in the brain to influence cognitive performance. My contributions include extensively characterized the cognitive status in young and aged mice using the high-resolution automated home-cage behavioral assessment (PhenoTyper) that is both reliable and consistent with testing over time. In addition, we have the unique capability of characterizing mice based on their cognitive status (impaired or resilient) that mirrors the inherent susceptibility (or resilience) found in the aging human population. Using these advanced methodologies, we have made significant progress in addressing and characterizing the heterogeneity in cognitive function that occurs with age. We have shown that cognitive stratification of aged C57Bl/6JN mice uncovers mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and damage, and reactive astrogliosis associated with senescence in mice that have impaired performance, while cognitively resilient mice show performance characteristics comparable to young mice. These are the first studies that highlight the importance of cognitive stratification in aging for development of targeted therapeutics for cognitive dysfunction. In addition to research, I hold leadership roles as the Director of the Geroscience COBRE behavior core and serve on the Institutional Animal Program Advisory Committee (APAC) to facilitate and support animal research on campus.
My lab is also involved in elucidating biomarkers in cognitive aging. As a collaborative effort, funded by the PHF clinical translational grant, we are looking into T cell and monocyte markers that differentiate cognitive performance in aged humans.
Funding:
1. Logan, S. (Principal Investigator), "Metabolic determinants of reactive astrogliosis and cognitive heterogeneity in aging," Federal, Sponsored by NIH/NIA, Federal Grant/Contract Number: 1R01AG085398-01 September 15, 2024 - May 31, 2029
2. Logan, S. (Principal Investigator), "Delineating senescence in the context of brain-adipose axis in aging," Extramural, Sponsored by Hevolution/AFAR New Investigator Award, December 31, 2023 - December 31, 2026
3. Drevets D, Sonntag W, Logan S, and Cox M (Multi-PI), 5% effort each, “Basic and Clinical Consortium for Brain-Immune Interactions with Age” Presbyterian Health Foundation Clinical Translational Grant 07/01/2024 – 06/30/2025
Select Honors and Accomplishments:
2024 International Conference on Brain Energy Metabolism (ICBEM) 2024 Speaker Travel Award
2017 Summer Training Course (STC) in Experimental Aging Research participant, Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, University of Washington
2024 FASEB's 2025 Excellence in Science Awards (Early Career)
2022 Faculty Excellence for Research/Scholarly Achievement (<7 years), Department of Rehabilitation Sciences/University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (Nominated)
Select Publications:
Baier, M. P., Ranjit, R., Owen, D. B., Wilson, J. L., Stiles, M. A., Masingale, A. M., Thomas, Z., Bredegaard, A., Sherry, D. M., & Logan, S. (2025). Cellular Senescence Is a Central Driver of Cognitive Disparities in Aging. e70041. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.70041
Logan, S., Ranjit, R., Rose, H., Bredegaard, A., Díaz-García, C. M.# (2024). Simultaneous quantitative respirometry and fluorometric assays in dissected hippocampal tissue from mice. STAR protocols, 5 (2), 102988. PMID: 38635395. DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.102988
Cassidy, B. R., Logan, S., Farley, J. A., Owen, D. B., Sonntag, W. E., & Drevets, D. (2023). Progressive cognitive impairment after recovery from neuroinvasive and non-neuroinvasive Listeria monocytogenes infection.. 14, 1146690. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1146690
Logan, S., Baier, M. P.*, Owen, D. B., Peasari, J., Jones, K. L., Ranjit, R., Yarbrough, H. P., Masingale, A. M., Bhandari, S., Rice, H. C., Kinter, M. T., Sonntag, W. E. (2023). Cognitive heterogeneity reveals molecular signatures of age-related impairment. PNAS nexus, 2 (4), pgad101. PMID: 37091543. DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad101
Baier, M. P.*, Nagaraja, R. Y., Yarbrough, H. P., Owen, D. B., Masingale, A. M., Ranjit, R., Stiles, M. A., Murphy, A., Agbaga, M.-P., Ahmad, M., Sherry, D. M., Kinter, M. T., Van Remmen, H., Logan, S. (2022). Selective Ablation of Sod2 in Astrocytes Induces Sex-Specific Effects on Cognitive Function, d-Serine Availability, and Astrogliosis. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 42(31), 5992-6006. PMID: 35760531. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2543-21.2022
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