The Pain Beat

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 pai...

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-ba...

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 PR...

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...

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 Be...

On this episode of The Pain Beat, Adam Dourson moderates a discussion about the role of the immune system in pain – what we know currently and ideas about how the immune system can be a target for new strategies to treat chronic pain. Podcast participants include: Geffroy Laumet, PhD, Michigan State University, US Luda Diachenko, PhD, McGill University, CA Thiago Cunha, PhD, University of Sao Paol...

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...

This 16 th 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 relat...

This 15 th 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 on...

This 14 th episode of The Pain Beat is the second 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 , and part one of...

This 13 th episode of The Pain Beat is the first 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 , and PRF related news story here ). In this epis...

The twelfth episode of The Pain Beat is dedicated to Stephen McMahon, PhD, FMedSci (1954-2021). Stephen, affectionately known as "Mac," was a world class pain researcher, lecturer, and inspiration to many. Our podcast guests pay homage to "Mac" with stories that illustrate his influence on the pain research field, and those in it. He will be remembered not only for his seminal contributions to our...

For its eleventh episode, The Pain Beat brought together experts to discuss the biological evolution of nociceptors, their subtypes, and plasticity as part of the Gulf Coast Consortium's #Pain2021 Webinar Series. These experts study nociceptors across a variety of animal models, including Drosophila, C. elegans, cephalopods, rodents, and humans. The discussion focused on how an evolutionary perspe...

For its tenth episode, The Pain Beat brought together guests from a variety of career stages to share their experiences conducting pain and pain-related research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their discussion highlighted unique and shared experiences, how research priorities and strategies shifted in response to the pandemic, as well as ways in which colleagues found and offered support.     Podca...

For its ninth episode, The Pain Beat brought together experts in how pain is measured clinically and experimentally. This multidisciplinary group discussed what is the difference between pain and nociception, why organisms experience pain and whether pain can be objectively measured since it is a subjective experience. Additionally, the group explored why researchers have relied on the measurement...

For its eighth episode, The Pain Beat gathered together a group of pain researchers with expertise in the study of sex differences in pain. The group discussed their own discoveries of sex differences in pain in the course of their research, why pain investigators should pay attention to sex differences and how they should go about examining them, and much more. Podcast participants include: Grego...

For its seventh episode, The Pain Beat gathered together an international group of pain researchers to discuss brain imaging of pain in humans. The podcast focuses on how studies of expectation and the placebo effect have advanced our understanding in this area. What we've learned so far, whether pain brain imaging can be used as a diagnostic tool, and future prospects for neuroimaging are all add...

For the sixth episode, The Pain Beat gathered together an international group of pain researchers, science communicators and civic science advocates to discuss what effective, empathic and inclusive science communication looks like. Specific questions discussed in the podcast include: What are the major challenges chronic pain research faces in different parts of the world? How can we address thos...

For the fifth episode, The Pain Beat gathered together a group of pain researchers virtually to discuss how the mammalian nervous system encodes sensory modalities related to touch, pain and temperature. Are there labeled lines? Is there population coding? Do the mechanisms differ by location – the brain, spinal cord or periphery? Podcast participants include: Diana Bautista, PhD, UC Berkeley, US;...

For the fourth episode, The Pain Beat gathered together a group of pain researchers via Zoom to discuss the use of human tissue in pain research and prospects for clinical translation of new knowledge emerging from this approach. Podcast participants include: Steve Davidson, PhD, University of Cincinnati, US Michael Hildebrand, PhD, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, PhD,...

A group of pain researchers gather to discuss ideas and issues related to the transition from acute to chronic pain.

Editor's Note: Welcome to the second episode of The Pain Beat, PRF's new monthly podcast series! Supported by a generous grant from The MAYDAY Fund, The Pain Beat brings together the world's leading pain investigators in order to spark dialogue and debate around important ideas in pain research. Guided by Rebecca Seal, Scientific Director of The Pain Beat, these podcasts feature open and spirited...

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Pain Beat, The IASP Pain Research Forum's new monthly podcast series! Supported by a generous grant from The MAYDAY Fund, The Pain Beat brings together the world's leading pain investigators in order to spark dialogue and debate around important ideas in pain research. Guided by Rebecca Seal, Scientific Director of The Pain Beat, these podcasts feature open...