We received an NIH R01 award with a perfect score to continue our research on molecular mechanisms of human neck pain. Grateful to NIH, reviewers, collaborators, staff, and study participants. @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social #ChronicPain More details: www.michelecuratolomd.com/news/the-nih...

Chronic low back pain improves in a meaningful minority. What characterizes this fortunate subgroup, and what can we learn from it? #ChronicPain #LowBackPain www.michelecuratolomd.com/post/can-chr...

Chronic Low Back Pain: The 15% Who Improve

Studies show that chronic low back pain improves in about 15% of patients. Modifiable factors associated with improvement are sleep quality, low psychological distress, and high level of physical acti...

michelecuratolomd.com

"Pain may be what the brain makes of a signal, but somewhere, Basbaum insists, there is a signal" a fantastic article by Stephani Southerland about the remarkable career of Allan Basbaum aeon.co/essays/a-res...

How to prevent #LowBackPain from becoming chronic? New evidence confirms that early treatments help a little, but none reliably prevent #ChronicPain. What patients need most is reassurance, realistic expectations, and protection from unnecessary care. www.michelecuratolomd.com/post/the-unc...

The uncomfortable truth about preventing chronic low back pain

Most early treatments for low back pain do little to prevent chronic pain and disability. No approach reliably stops the transition from acute to chronic pain. This tells us that the mechanisms drivin...

michelecuratolomd.com

Studying dorsal root ganglia from patients offers new insights into the biology of chronic neck pain. This short blog explains in plain language our recent study, led by @asta-at.bsky.social in the @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social lab. #ChronicPain www.michelecuratolomd.com/post/what-dr...

What drives chronic neck pain? Insights from human neural tissue

Chronic neck pain is common and difficult to treat, largely because we still poorly understand the biology that sustains it. By studying rare human cervical nerve tissue removed during surgery, we exa...

michelecuratolomd.com

Thanks @nbcnews.com for covering our #SciImmunoloy paper showing the role of IL-10+ monocytes in sex difference in #pain www.nbcnews.com/health/women... #neuroimmunology Original article in comments

Why does women's pain last longer than men's? A new study offers an answer

The research suggests that men’s immune systems have a better mechanism for shutting off pain, which could explain why women have more chronic symptoms.

nbcnews.com

An article on a possible explanation why women have on average more prolonged #pain after an #injury than men. www.nbcnews.com/health/women...

Why does women's pain last longer than men's? A new study offers an answer

The research suggests that men’s immune systems have a better mechanism for shutting off pain, which could explain why women have more chronic symptoms.

nbcnews.com

New study provides important insights into the cellular architecture underlying human #ChronicPain Led by Sylvanus Toikumo, collaboration with @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social, our #NIH funded group on neck pain, and others. A blogpost in plain language. www.michelecuratolomd.com/post/the-cel...

The cellular blueprint of chronic pain: New insights from genetic research

We have long known that chronic pain has genetic components, but we did not know which types of brain and nerve cells are influenced by these genetic differences in humans. This study aimed to answer ...

michelecuratolomd.com

Large part of the progress in #pain #research will depend on whether the #NIH #HealInitiative will continue or not. Works like this one will very unlikely lead to benefits for patients if further translational research is not funded. And there is no comparable alternative to the NIH HEAL program.

Ted Price@tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Again, all of these advances in our understanding of the human nervous system are only possible because of the organ donors and their families, and because of the funding that comes from the #NIH #HealInitiative: www.nih.gov/heal

Congratulations Ted and team. This is going to be fundamental work for understanding pathophysiology and drug discovery.

Ted Price@tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Again, all of these advances in our understanding of the human nervous system are only possible because of the organ donors and their families, and because of the funding that comes from the #NIH #HealInitiative: www.nih.gov/heal

Progressive neurodegeneration in human dorsal root ganglion from diabetes to painful neuropathy https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.16.700028v1

Big new paper from us published yesterday: The synaptic ectokinase VLK triggers the EphB2–NMDAR interaction to drive injury-induced pain www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Led by @hajisciencebaji.bsky.social in my lab and a wonderful collaboration with Matthew Dalva's lab at Tulane

The synaptic ectokinase VLK triggers the EphB2–NMDAR interaction to drive injury-induced pain

Phosphorylation of hundreds of protein extracellular domains is mediated by two kinase families but the functional role of these kinases is underexplored. We find that the presynaptic release of the t...

science.org

Chronic pain after surgery: why it happens so frequently. #ChronicPain #Surgery www.michelecuratolomd.com/post/why-can...

Why can surgery cause chronic pain?

Surgery can lead to chronic pain, likely due to persistent nerve damage, inflammation, and alteration in the processing of pain signals in the spinal cord and brain.

michelecuratolomd.com

We are seeking a senior tenured professor in our Department working on affective and/or motivational neuroscience (defined in the ad, but pretty broad). The idea is that this person is going help lead our growth in this area alongside our excellent Centers. jobs.utdallas.edu/postings/30693

Impressive work by Sylvanus Toikumo revealing cell-type-specific genetic architecture of human chronic pain across central and peripheral nervous system. The C2 DRG from our patients with neck pain undergoing surgery at @uwmedicine.bsky.social displayed enrichment of pain-specific genes.

Ted Price@tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Huge congrats to Sylvanus Toikumo for this outstanding work just published online preview in JCI: www.jci.org/articles/vie... We were happy to be able to play a small role in this paper, and I have been happy to be an informal co-mentor to Sylvanus... he is on the job market!

The first publication of our project, which identifies altered gene expressions in the human DRG associated with neck pain. Fantastic collaboration with @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social lab, Christoph Hofstetter from Neurosurgery, and a stellar team. urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

Transcriptome of the human C2 dorsal root ganglia in C1-2 arthrodesis surgery: insight for neck pain

Arendt-Tranholm et al. use surgically resected sensory ganglia to investigate the mechanisms underlying chronic neck pain. They produce a molecular map of

urldefense.com

A very exciting conference that brings together top scientists, clinicians, and biotech/industry experts to present emerging therapeutic targets for #ChronicPain. Learn more here: ter.li/unar77.

This is incredible and so inspiring on so many levels. This is what science can do.

On #Biomarkers for #ChronicPain: Recent research shows that it not only about biological measures www.michelecuratolomd.com/post/the-int...

Body and Mind Measures Interact to Improve Pain Biomarkers

New research highlights the benefits of combining biological and psychosocial measures when identifying biomarkers for pain. This supports the biopsychosocial model and urges a holistic approach to pa...

michelecuratolomd.com

This preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... is now accepted for publication in JCI! Heavily revised manuscript with tons of exciting new data should be online soon. Huge congrats to @dianatavf.bsky.social who led this project with incredible creativity and skill, just like she always does!

Deciphering the molecular landscape of human peripheral nerves: implications for diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a prevalent complication of diabetes mellitus that is caused by metabolic toxicity to peripheral axons. We aimed to gain deep mechanistic insight into the disea...

biorxiv.org

A short read on how #steroid #injections can help managing #ChronicPain, why they may be ineffective, and a frequently overlooked side effect they cause. www.michelecuratolomd.com/post/steroid...

Steroid injections for chronic pain: How do they work (and why they may not)

Steroids are commonly administered via injection to help manage chronic pain. But how do they work, and why do they often seem ineffective?

michelecuratolomd.com

A motivating quote from @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social: “…You are discovering knowledge and gifting that to humanity for all of posterity. Once you learn something no one can take that away. It is not an object. It is an intellectual currency that will be shared throughout the generations…”

Go check out our new paper on spatial transcriptomics of human sympathetic chain ganglia! Huge thanks @saadyousuf.bsky.social and @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social for trusting me with this awesome project.

Our study that found associations of cerebrospinal fluid metabolites with #ChronicPain in patients with spinal muscle atrophy #SMA #metabolism #metabolites doi.org/10.1093/pm/p...

Cerebrospinal fluid metabolomics of pain in patients with spinal muscle atrophy

Dear Editor,

doi.org

The protocol of our multi-omics study in patients with #LowBackPain and #Fibromyalgia. Great collaboration with Daniel Raftery's lab and Darrell Henze at Merck. Aims: to identify molecular pathways potentially involved in these conditions, and identify #biomarkers. dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Multi-omics profiles of chronic low back pain and fibromyalgia—Study protocol

Background Chronic low back pain (CLBP) and fibromyalgia (FM) are leading causes of suffering, disability, and social costs. Current pharmacological treatments do not target molecular mechanisms drivi...

dx.plos.org

Exciting new work on #suzetrigine effects on spontaneously active human DRG neurons from patients/donors with a pain history. Short story is that suzetrigine is remarkably effective at blocking spontaneous activity. Collab with Dougherty lab at MDACC!

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · last yr.

Suzetrigine (VX-548) exhibits activity-dependent effects on human dorsal root ganglion neurons https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.09.648014v1

Suzetrigine (VX-548) exhibits activity-dependent effects on human dorsal root ganglion neurons https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.09.648014v1

Asta Arendt-Tranholm, @ish1789.bsky.social and others in our lab and the great team at UW led by @michelecuratolo.bsky.social latest preprint on mechanisms of neck pain in patients undergoing C1/C2 fusion surgery

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · last yr.

Single-cell characterization of the human C2 dorsal root ganglion recovered from C1-2 arthrodesis surgery: implications for neck pain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.24.645122v1

Remarkable finding by our colleagues at WashU @robgereau.bsky.social and collaborators, stressing how promising is #NIH support to our #PRECISIONPain Center to find mechanisms and effective treatments for #ChronicPain

Ted Price@tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social · last yr.

BOOM! Human DRG patch-seq with Nav1.8 and Nav1.7 upregulation associated with a history pain in organ donors. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Great stuff from the #PRECISIONPain Center at WashU led by @robgereau.bsky.social