About
Research
Email: jonathan.craven@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
Jonathan holds a BSc in Exercise Science, a Postgraduate Diploma in Secondary Education, and a PhD in Biochemistry of Exercise from Griffith University, Australia. His doctoral thesis, The Influence of Contextual Factors on Short-Term Post-Exercise Muscle Glycogen Resynthesis: A Focus on Sleep, examined how factors such as sleep affect recovery of muscle energy stores. With a professional background as an exercise physiologist and sports nutritionist, he has supported elite athletes throughout his career.
Jonathan is a Senior Lecturer and Course Lead for the MSc Applied Sport Nutrition programme at St Mary’s University, which he joined in 2023. He teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students in sport and exercise nutrition, covering physiology and metabolism of exercise, biochemistry, and sports nutrition. From 2019 to 2023 he was an Associate Lecturer at Griffith University, where he led laboratory and tutorial sessions across subjects including Integrated Systems Physiology, Foundations of Exercise and Sports Science, Sports Nutrition, Clinical Exercise Testing, and Exercise, Health and Disease.
His teaching has encompassed practical sessions on cardiovascular and respiratory physiology, metabolic assessment using indirect calorimetry, and a range of exercise-testing protocols. He has also facilitated hands-on laboratories in macronutrient analysis, anthropometry, and clinical exercise testing, giving students practical skills in blood-pressure measurement, ECG interpretation, and pulmonary-function testing.
Research
Research profile
Jonathan’s research interests are broad and include substrate utilisation during exercise, the dynamics of muscle glycogen use and resynthesis, the application of ergogenic aids to enhance performance, the influence of genetics on sports-nutrition strategies, and the effects of sleep loss on athletic performance.
He led a study investigating the impact of acute sleep loss on muscle glycogen resynthesis and cycling performance, using advanced data-collection and analysis methods. At Griffith University he introduced innovative approaches to muscle-fibre typing and glycogen analysis, including the dot-blot technique and transmission electron microscopy to examine glycogen at the subcellular level. He is currently establishing the muscle-biopsy technique at St Mary’s University, opening new research opportunities.
His scholarly output includes systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in Sports Medicine on the effects of sleep loss on exercise performance and on short-term post-exercise muscle glycogen resynthesis. Undergraduate research published in the European Journal of Sport Science examined how increased training volume affects the gut microbiome in middle-distance runners. He has also contributed to work on the effects of training volume on muscle oxidative capacity (using near-infrared spectroscopy) and on the relationship between the work of breathing and gas-exchange thresholds during incremental cycling. More recently he co-authored a randomised crossover trial investigating the interaction of melatonin receptor 1B (MTNR1B) genotype and breakfast composition (protein-enriched versus carbohydrate-rich) on postprandial glucose response. He plans a follow-up study to determine whether common genetic variation in the melatonin receptor 1B gene (MTNR1B rs10830963) influences metabolic responses to evening exercise, recovery capacity, and the effectiveness of nutritional strategies used to optimise endurance performance.
Grant funding
In 2021 Jonathan helped secure a £27,000 grant from the Queensland Academy of Sport to examine the influence of evening exercise on muscle glycogen replenishment and next-day exercise performance.
Key publications
- King, A., Nixon, J., Kapellou, A., Craven, J., Graham, C. A.-M., Pilic, L., & Mavrommatis, Y. (2026). Interaction of melatonin receptor 1B (MTNR1B) genotype and type of breakfast (protein-enriched v carbohydrate-rich) on postprandial glucose response: A randomised crossover trial. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
- Craven, J., McCartney, D., Desbrow, B., Sabapathy, S., Bellinger, P., Roberts, L., & Irwin, C. (2022). Effects of acute sleep loss on physical performance: A systematic and meta-analytical review. Sports Medicine, 52(11), 2669–2690.
- Craven, J., Desbrow, B., Sabapathy, S., Bellinger, P., McCartney, D., & Irwin, C. (2021). The effect of consuming carbohydrate with and without protein on the rate of muscle glycogen resynthesis during short-term post-exercise recovery: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine – Open, 7, 2891.
- Craven, J., Cox, A. J., Bellinger, P., Desbrow, B., Irwin, C., Buchan, J., & Sabapathy, S. (2021). The influence of exercise training volume alterations on the gut microbiome in highly-trained middle-distance runners. European Journal of Sport Science, 13, 1–9.
- Bellinger, P., Desbrow, B., Derave, W., Lievens, E., Irwin, C., Sabapathy, S., Kennedy, B., Craven, J., Pennell, E., Rice, H., & Minahan, C. (2020). Muscle fiber typology is associated with the incidence of overreaching in response to overload training. Journal of Applied Physiology, 129(4), 1985–? [page range to confirm].
- Bellinger, P. M., Sabapathy, S., Craven, J., Arnold, B., & Minahan, C. (2019). Overreaching attenuates training-induced improvements in muscle oxidative capacity. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 52(1), 77–85.