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Donald Iain MacDonald

@dimacd.bsky.social

Neuroscience researcher @NIH. Branco Weiss Fellow. Formerly @UZH @UCL @StJohnsOx. Neuropeptides, pain and inflammation. Tha Gàidhlig agam

18 Posts255 Follower533 Folgt
Douglas Cheape@douglascheape.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Your annual reminder that the most revealing difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is definitely in the words for December: Mí na Nollag (Month of Christmas) in Ireland, and An Dubhlachd (the Blackness) in Scotland. So once again may I wish you all a lovely Blackness.

Donald Iain MacDonald @dimacd.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Still amazing that a specific language impairment can be mapped to a mendelian single gene mutation. Reading about this discovery of a "language gene" is what first got me interested in biology, genetics and ultimately neuroscience!

Simon Fisher@profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 10mo ago

More than two decades have passed since we discovered that rare disruptions of the FOXP2 gene disturb development of proficient speech/language skills. Today we know of multiple FOXP genes that are directly implicated in distinct brain-related conditions with differences in symptoms & severity.🧪 1/n

A depiction of expression patterns of the FOXP1, FOXP2, and FOXP4 genes in the brain, based on the developmental human RNA sequencing dataset of BrainSpan (http://www.brainspan.org/). Data cover different prenatal timepoints starting at 8-to-10 weeks postconception (abbreviated as pcs), postnatal timepoints from 0-to-12 months (abbreviated as mos), and expression measured in adulthood. A dashed vertical line represents time of birth. Individual dots are shown each representing one brain sample, and lines show loess curves fitted through the datapoints. The analyzed brain regions are A1C, primary auditory cortex; CB, cerebellum; CBC, cerebellar cortex; DFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; DTH, dorsal thalamic nucleus; HIP, hippocampus; IPC, inferior parietal cortex; ITC, inferior temporal cortex; M1C, primary motor cortex; MD, mediodorsal thalamic nucleus; MFC, medial frontal cortex; OFC, orbitofrontal; S1C, primary sensory cortex; STR, striatum; TC, superior temporal cortex; V1C, primary visual cortex; VFC, ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This image comes from Figure 1 of a paper entitled “Molecular networks of the FOXP2 transcription factor in the brain” written by den Hoed, Devaraju and Fisher, published in the journal EMBO Reports in August 2021 (Volume 22, article e58203).
eLife@elife.bsky.social · last yr.

Turns out, two of pain’s most famous messengers — Substance P and CGRPα — might not be so essential after all. Mice missing both still felt pain just fine, challenging decades of assumptions about how pain signals travel. buff.ly/ypISrtx

different coloured mice on a white background
Stéphanie C Koch@skochlab.bsky.social · last yr.

Come join our lab as Postdoctoral Fellow! The project will investigate the maturation of spinal circuits and their plasticity within chronic widespread pain states. Apply here: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/... until 11th April. @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @uclnpp.bsky.social @jobrxiv.bsky.social

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

ucl.ac.uk

MargolisLab@margolislabnyu.bsky.social · 2y ago

This study challenges traditional views of pain biology by showing that deleting Substance P and CGRPα does not affect acute or chronic pain in mice, underscoring the complexity of finding effective pain targets. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Pain persists in mice lacking both Substance P and CGRPα signaling

The neuropeptides Substance P and CGRPα have long been thought important for pain sensation. Both peptides and their receptors are expressed at high levels in pain-responsive neurons from the peripher...

biorxiv.org