tBerta Lab

The Pain Beat (Episode 18) – The Immune System and Pain - International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) Manager’s note: Welcome to the 18th episode of The Pain Beat! Launched and supported by a generous grant from the MAYDAY Fund, with additional funding from the Rita Allen Foundation, […]

Honored to join @adamdourson.bsky.social and brilliant colleagues for an insightful discussion about immune system's role in chronic pain. Great exchange of ideas with @geoffroylaumey.bsky.social, Luda Diachenko, and Thiago Cunha! Listen here @iasp.bsky.social: www.iasp-pain.org/publications...

🔬 Exciting discovery! We've been curious about the function of unique IBA1+ cell staining we observed around healthy human DRG neurons in the lab (indicated by red arrows). A new paper @cellpress.bsky.social finally provides some answers. Link: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Vascular motion in the dorsal root ganglion sensed by Piezo2 in sensory neurons triggers episodic neuropathic pain Spontaneous pain, characterized by episodic shooting or stabbing sensations, is a significant complaint among neuropathic pain patients but remains poorly understood. Xie et al. provide evidence that ...

Our latest research with Prof. Zhang is out in @cp-neuron.bsky.social. We've uncovered how blood vessel motion in sensory ganglia triggers spontaneous pain through Piezo2. Our findings open new therapeutic possibilities for treating episodic neuropathic pain. Link: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

The LRP1-SHP2 pathway regulates TRPV1 sensitivity in the peripheral nervous system: Insights from amyloid beta 1-42 modulation - PubMed The findings suggest a crucial role of Aβ in modulating heat pain sensitivity during maturation through TRPV1 inhibition. The study offers new insights into the regulation of pain sensitivity during t...

Excited to share our latest findings with Dr. Park's team @Gachon University! We've uncovered how amyloid beta modulates heat pain sensitivity via the LRP1-SHP2 pathway in DRG neurons. This could open new therapeutic avenues for age-related chronic pain. Read more: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40054577/

Modulation of Pain Sensitivity by Ascl1- and Lhx6-Dependent GABAergic Neuronal Function in Streptozotocin-Diabetic Mice - PubMed Painful diabetic neuropathy commonly affects the peripheral nervous system in individuals with diabetes. However, the pathological processes and mechanisms underlying diabetic neuropathic pain remain ...

Proud to be part of this exciting study from our fantastic collaborator Prof. Chul-Kyu Park (Gachon University) about how the transcription factors Ascl1 and Lhx6 could help treat diabetic neuropathic pain by modulating GABAergic peripheral neurons. Link: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39741412/

Offering hope for people facing chronic pain A major breakthrough in our understanding of pain has been revealed in a collaborative study, opening the door to new ways of tackling long term pain without harmful and addictive opioids.

Excited to share a press release from @leedsunimedia.bsky.social about our joint work with Drs. Gamper and Du. Our body produces its own "sleeping pills" to control pain signals -a new non-opioid pain treatment? #SatelliteGlialCells #NIH_HEALinitiative Read more: www.leeds.ac.uk/main-index/n...

Out of curiosity, I used @notion.com and Napkin AI to visualize the first chapter of my upcoming review on satellite glial cells and chronic pain. The graphical summary turned out quite well, though you'll need to read the full review when it's published for all the details ;-) #SatelliteGlialCells

Electrophysiological and transcriptomic correlates of neuropathic pain in human dorsal root ganglion neurons - PubMed Neuropathic pain encompasses a diverse array of clinical entities affecting 7-10% of the population, which is challenging to adequately treat. Several promising therapeutics derived from molecular dis...

6/6 Translational research is one of our priorities, partially inspired by Drs. Price @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social and Dougherty's work characterizing neuropathic pain in human dorsal root ganglion neurons - a great example of this research's potential impact. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30887021/

CD8+ T Cells and Endogenous IL-10 Are Required for Resolution of Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathic Pain - PubMed Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy persists after completion of cancer treatment in a significant subset of patients, whereas others recover. Persistent neuropathy after completion of cancer t...

5/6 Together with my postdoctoral work on resolvins and pain, Dr. Kavelaars's publication on CD8 T-cells' contribution to pain progression has shaped our research on how immune cells aid pain resolution - the focus of our new HEAL initiative grant (NS136108). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27798187/

Unbiased classification of sensory neuron types by large-scale single-cell RNA sequencing - PubMed The primary sensory system requires the integrated function of multiple cell types, although its full complexity remains unclear. We used comprehensive transcriptome analysis of 622 single mouse neuro...

4/6 Since the beginning of our lab in 2016, we've had a keen eye for cellular heterogeneity and various methods to study it, thanks to the seminal work from Dr. Ernfors's lab @patrikernfors.bsky.social. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25420068/

The Parkinson's disease DJ-1/PARK7 gene controls peripheral neuronal excitability and painful neuropathy - PubMed Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with well-documented motor symptoms as well as less recognised, but significant, non-motor symptoms. These non-motor symptoms include pro...

3/6 While our lab focuses on non-neuronal pain mechanisms, we also study sensory neurons and pain resolution. Our recent work shows DJ-1/PARK7 regulates neuronal excitability in mouse and human models, suggesting potential neuropathy treatments. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39486088/

Microglial STING activation alleviates nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain in male but not female mice - PubMed Microglia, resident immune cells in the central nervous system, play a role in neuroinflammation and the development of neuropathic pain. We found that the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is pr...

2/6 We are also interested in sex-specific effects in chronic pain. Our findings reveal interferon-signaling microglia can reduce established neuropathic pain in male mice, but not females. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38190983/

Peripheral gating of mechanosensation by glial diazepam binding inhibitor - PubMed We report that diazepam binding inhibitor (DBI) is a glial messenger mediating crosstalk between satellite glial cells (SGCs) and sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). DBI is highly expre...

1/6 First, we are a highly collaborative lab interested in non-neuronal cell contributions to chronic pain, such as the role of satellite glial cells in neuronal health and pain mechanisms. Grateful for amazing collaborations with Drs. Gamper (UK) and Du (China). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38888973/

Thrilled to join the vibrant neuroscience community on @bsky.app ! Looking forward to sharing insights and discussing groundbreaking research. For my lab introduction, I'll share a thread showcasing three of our recent publications and three studies that have greatly inspired our work ...