The Pain Beat

Editor's note: Welcome to the 23rd episode of The Pain Beat, PRF's podcast series! The Pain Beat brings together the world's leading pain investigators in order to spark dialogue and debate around important ideas in pain research. The Pain Beat podcasts feature open and spirited discussion about the hottest topics in pain and how the field moves forward from here.

This episode of the Pain Beat covers ion channel disorders known as channelopathies that underlie painful conditions. The conversation covers from human genetics, structural analyses, electrophysiological functional characterizations to personalized medicine and new therapeutic strategies.

Participants include:

Dr. Angelika Lampert, PhD, Aachen University, Germany

Dr. Candice Paulsen, PhD, Yale University, US

Dr. See Wan Tham, MD, Seattle Children's Hospital, US

Moderated and organized by Dr. John Del Rosario, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, US.

This episode was produced by Lite Yang, Washington University in St. Louis, US and edited by Dieu Ni Doan, MD, PhD., Harvard Medical School

Music was provide by Kevin Seal of Seal Party.

Other episodes of the Pain Beat can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and the Pain Research Forum.

Editor's note: Welcome to the 22nd episode of The Pain Beat, PRF's podcast series! The Pain Beat brings together the world's leading pain investigators in order to spark dialogue and debate around important ideas in pain research. The Pain Beat podcasts feature open and spirited discussion about the hottest topics in pain and how the field moves forward from here.

On this episode, experts in pain research discuss the modification of pain by homeostatic drives and survival threats. How for example, do hunger and sleep modify the pain experience and how are they themselves modified by pain. What are the circuits and mechanisms underlying these interactions?

Participants on the podcast:

• Loren Martin, PhD, University of Toronto
• Nitsan Goldstein, PhD, MIT
• J. Nicholas Betley, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
• Alban Latremolier, PhD, Johns Hopkins University.
• Al Nie, Johns Hopkins University (Organizer and Moderator)

Music provided by Kevin Seal. Other episodes of the Pain Beat can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and the Pain Research Forum.

The first interview in the PRF Spotlight Series: Voices Shaping Pain Science features Dr. Michael Gold, PhD delving deep in to discussion of the history and future of sodium channels.

From the identification of sodium channels as drivers of nociceptor excitability to the emergence of NaVs as therapeutic targets, this conversation bridges the history of pain research with the future of mechanism-based analgesia.

Part 1 of our interviews on Sodium Channels and the Making of a Field.

Michael Gold, PhD

University of Pittsburgh

Francisco Isaac Gomes-Aragão, DDS, MSC, PhD

University of São Paulo, BR

Beatriz Lima Adjafre, PhD

University of São Paulo, Br

Music by Seal Party.

Manager's note: The Pain Beat, launched and supported by a generous grant from the MAYDAY Fund, with additional funding from the Rita Allen Foundation, brings together the world's leading pain investigators with the purpose of sparking dialogue and debate around important ideas in pain research. Guided by Lite Yang, Scientific Director and co-producer, and Rebecca Seal, Chair Editorial Board of PRF, the podcasts feature open and spirited discussions about the hottest topics in pain and how the field moves forward.

Here we dive into a topic that's both surprisingly complex and often overlooked—eye pain. Our eyes are among the most sensitive structures in the human body, yet the mechanisms behind ocular pain remain poorly understood. In this episode, we have the pleasure hosting clinicians who are treating patients with eye pain every day speak with their colleagues and collaborators, who are preclinical pain researchers working to unravel the underlying biology. What emerged was a fascinating conversation about the different types and distinct mechanisms driving eye pain. Our guests explored the organ's intricate structures and their relationships to sensation as well as the role of different brain regions in shaping how we ultimately perceive and experience ocular discomfort.

Dr. Sue Aicher, Ph.D., Oregon Health and Science University,

Dr. Anna Matynia, Ph.D. University of Houston college of Optometry,

Dr. Brooke Harkness, O.D., M.S., FAAO, Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health and Science University,

Dr. Lindsey Delott, M.D., University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center

Dr. Anat Galor, M.D., M.S.P.H., Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at University of Miami,

Moderator was Dr. Sejiro Littleton, Ph.D., Duke University

This episode was produced by Lite Yang, and edited by Dieu Ni Daon. Music by Kevin Seal of Seal Party.

Manager's note: The Pain Beat, launched and supported by a generous grant from the MAYDAY Fund, with additional funding from the Rita Allen Foundation, brings together the world's leading pain investigators with the purpose of sparking dialogue and debate around important ideas in pain research. Guided by Rebecca Seal, scientific director of The Pain Beat and Editor-in-Chief of Pain Research Forum, the podcasts feature open and spirited discussions about the hottest topics in pain and how the field moves forward. For this episode, Adam Dourson and Lite Yang served as both creators and producers. Lite Yang moderates an important discussion with leaders in the pain field, which provides insights into current work to use human donor tissues to guide basic research findings to increase the success of clinical outcomes. This is update on Episode 4 recorded in 2021, which featured another group of leading pain researchers. Podcast participants include: Robert Gereau, PhD, Washington University in Saint Louis, US Wenqin Luo, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, US Theodore Price, PhD, UT Dallas, US William Renthal, MD, PhD, Harvard University, US Lite Yang, Washington University in Saint Louis, US PRF thanks Kevin Seal for creating the music.

Manager's note: Welcome to the 19th episode of The Pain Beat! Launched and supported by a generous grant from the MAYDAY Fund, with additional funding from the Rita Allen Foundation, The Pain Beat brings together the world's leading pain investigators with the purpose of sparking dialogue and debate around important ideas in pain research. Guided by Rebecca Seal, scientific director of The Pain Beat and Editor-in-Chief of Pain Research Forum, the podcasts feature open and spirited discussions about the hottest topics in pain and how the field moves forward. On this episode of The Pain Beat, Juliet Mwirigi moderates an in person discussion about migraine with a diverse panel of preclinical and clinical experts at the USASP meeting in Chicago. Where are we in understanding and treating migraine? What successes have we had and what challenges do we still face? Podcast participants include: Andrew Russo, PhD, University of Iowa, US Gregory Dussor, PhD, UT Dallas, US Hadas Nahman-Averbuch PhD, University of Washington in Saint Louis, US Levi Sowers, PhD, University of Iowa, US Yohannes Woldeamanuel, MD, Mayo Clinic, US Juliet Mwirigi, PhD, Washington University in Saint Louis, US PRF thanks Adam Dourson and Lite Yang for producing the podcast and Kevin Seal for creating the music.

On this episode of The Pain Beat, Ewan St. John Smith hosted fellow scientists and clinicians with expertise in visceral pain, including Federica La Russa - a scientist who also brought the patient perspective. The participants belong to the MICA ADVANTAGE consortium led by Geoff Woods, University of Cambridge, UK. The discussion covered psychological and clinical perspectives on the experience of visceral pain and treatment, as well as the latest in preclinical research, including how visceral pain studies differ from other types of pain.

Podcast participants include:

• Ewan St. John Smith, PhD, University of Cambridge, UK
• Franziska Denk, PhD, University College London, UK
• Federica La Russa, PhD, Freelance Science Writer
• Andrew Horne, University of Edinburgh, UK
• Amanda Williams, PhD, University College London, UK

This 16th episode of The Pain Beat highlights the work of a vibrant consortium of pain researchers working on a project known as Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS). A2CPS is focused on the identification of biomarkers to predict which patients will transition from acute to chronic pain, and which patients living with chronic pain can improve their quality of life with management (see related PRF news story). The Pain Beat invited several Primary Investigators from A2CPS to talk about the work of the consortium, and how listeners of The Pain Beat can get involved themselves!

Podcast participants include:

• Kathleen Sluka, PT, PhD, FAPTA, A2CPS Principal Investigator; University of Iowa, USA
• John Burns, PhD, A2CPS Principal Investigator; Rush University Medical Center, Illinois, USA
• Chad Brummett, MD, A2CPS Principal Investigator; University of Michigan, USA
• Michael Olivier, PhD, A2CPS Principal Investigator; Wake Forest University, North Carolina, USA.
• Stephani Sutherland, PhD, A2CPS Communications Director; Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA (moderator)

This 15th episode of The Pain Beat is the third and final of a three-part series discussing the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – awarded to David Julius, University of California, San Francisco, USA and Ardem Patapoutian, Scripps Research, California, USA – for their work on molecules important for somatosensation (see PRF related interview here, PRF related news story here, part one of this series here, and part two of this series here). In this episode, The Pain Beat spoke with a group of collaborators and former mentees to discuss what the discoveries mean for the somatosensory field, as well as stories and insights about what it was like working with Drs. Julius and Patapoutian during that time.

Podcast participants include:

• Allan Basbaum, PhD, FRS, University of California, San Francisco, USA
• Diana Bautista, PhD, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Alexander Chesler, PhD, National Institutes of Health, Maryland, USA
• Ellen Lumpkin, PhD, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Tayler Sheahan, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, USA (Host)