Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
@ishmailsaboor.bsky.social
Associate Prof | Columbia Biology & Zuckerman Institute
Freeman Hrabowski Scholar | HHMI
We study how the skin-brain axis drives somatosensory behaviors
https://www.abdus-saboorlab.com/
Freeman Hrabowski Scholar | HHMI
We study how the skin-brain axis drives somatosensory behaviors
https://www.abdus-saboorlab.com/
Pinned
I am happy to share that I’ve been awarded tenure here at Columbia University. Alhamdulillah. I thank my wife, parents, mentors, colleagues, friends, and family. I thank my lab members, present and past, for entrusting their careers in my hands and making this a thrilling journey.
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
Excited to present our latest work improving and validating our ARM system for automating evoked touch and pain assays at @sfn.org this weekend! Come check it out if you’re interested in automating your own work. #PainResearch #SFN #SFN2025
November 14, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Excited to present our latest work improving and validating our ARM system for automating evoked touch and pain assays at @sfn.org this weekend! Come check it out if you’re interested in automating your own work. #PainResearch #SFN #SFN2025
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
For solving a 50-year mystery by uncovering the machinery behind BMP, a molecule with protective effects against various disorders, Uche Medoh is the winner of the 2025 Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists.
🎉 Learn more about the work: https://scim.ag/4qVpK1a
🎉 Learn more about the work: https://scim.ag/4qVpK1a
November 13, 2025 at 8:34 PM
For solving a 50-year mystery by uncovering the machinery behind BMP, a molecule with protective effects against various disorders, Uche Medoh is the winner of the 2025 Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists.
🎉 Learn more about the work: https://scim.ag/4qVpK1a
🎉 Learn more about the work: https://scim.ag/4qVpK1a
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
And here is the story after peer review. This work highlights our current approach, which is to use Piezo channels to uncover new areas of biology that are shaped by mechanical forces: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 13, 2025 at 10:05 PM
And here is the story after peer review. This work highlights our current approach, which is to use Piezo channels to uncover new areas of biology that are shaped by mechanical forces: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
153 books read in one year. I need to step my game up lol.
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Year of Judging the Booker Prize www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/b...
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Year of Judging the Booker Prize www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/b...
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Year of Judging the Booker Prize
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:26 AM
153 books read in one year. I need to step my game up lol.
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Year of Judging the Booker Prize www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/b...
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Year of Judging the Booker Prize www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/b...
Cool paper from Sora Shin’s lab mapping a neural circuit for aggression and self-harm. Awesome to see another group using our pain assessment platform in their studies.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Thalamo-hippocampal pathway determines aggression and self-harm
Thalamo-hippocampal calcium channel hyperactivity drives aggression and self-harm after early adversity.
www.science.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Cool paper from Sora Shin’s lab mapping a neural circuit for aggression and self-harm. Awesome to see another group using our pain assessment platform in their studies.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
James D. Watson died on Thursday in East Northport, N.Y., on Long Island. He was 97.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
James Watson, Who Helped Discover the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:35 PM
James D. Watson died on Thursday in East Northport, N.Y., on Long Island. He was 97.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
Also happy to see that our rat DRG dataset is now online at Journal of Pain. www.jpain.org/article/S152... Big thanks to Sydney Caparaso and Becky Wachs for leading this effort along with @ish1789.bsky.social and I. Rats and mice and humans are not the same, oh my!
Single-nuclei RNA Sequencing Reveals Distinct Transcriptomic Signatures of Rat Dorsal Root Ganglia in a Chronic Discogenic Low Back Pain Model
Chronic low back pain (LBP), often correlated with intervertebral disc degeneration,
is a leading source of disability worldwide, yet remains poorly understood. Current
treatments often fail to provid...
www.jpain.org
November 7, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Also happy to see that our rat DRG dataset is now online at Journal of Pain. www.jpain.org/article/S152... Big thanks to Sydney Caparaso and Becky Wachs for leading this effort along with @ish1789.bsky.social and I. Rats and mice and humans are not the same, oh my!
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
The BIG DRG paper is now up on @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... so many people worked so hard to make this happen. Props to the whole PRECISION Human Pain Network.
A Reference Atlas of the Human Dorsal Root Ganglion
Somatosensory perception largely emerges from diverse peripheral sensory neurons whose cell bodies reside in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Damage or dysfunction of DRG neurons is a major cause of chronic...
www.biorxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 11:16 AM
The BIG DRG paper is now up on @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... so many people worked so hard to make this happen. Props to the whole PRECISION Human Pain Network.
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
Excited to announce the first NYC Area Pain meetup being hosted at NYU. Come connect with other pain researchers and learn about the advances being made by early career researchers.
RSVP: luma.com/m5zwchlt?tk=...
Still accepting submissions for lightening talks, reach out if interested.
RSVP: luma.com/m5zwchlt?tk=...
Still accepting submissions for lightening talks, reach out if interested.
November 5, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Excited to announce the first NYC Area Pain meetup being hosted at NYU. Come connect with other pain researchers and learn about the advances being made by early career researchers.
RSVP: luma.com/m5zwchlt?tk=...
Still accepting submissions for lightening talks, reach out if interested.
RSVP: luma.com/m5zwchlt?tk=...
Still accepting submissions for lightening talks, reach out if interested.
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
Congratulations to the 2025 SfN award & prize recipients!
Their dedication to advancing the understanding of the brain paves the way for future discoveries.
SfN looks forward to celebrating their achievements at #SfN25.
Learn about the recipients.
🔗 vist.ly/4cni8
#neurosky
Their dedication to advancing the understanding of the brain paves the way for future discoveries.
SfN looks forward to celebrating their achievements at #SfN25.
Learn about the recipients.
🔗 vist.ly/4cni8
#neurosky
November 3, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Congratulations to the 2025 SfN award & prize recipients!
Their dedication to advancing the understanding of the brain paves the way for future discoveries.
SfN looks forward to celebrating their achievements at #SfN25.
Learn about the recipients.
🔗 vist.ly/4cni8
#neurosky
Their dedication to advancing the understanding of the brain paves the way for future discoveries.
SfN looks forward to celebrating their achievements at #SfN25.
Learn about the recipients.
🔗 vist.ly/4cni8
#neurosky
Great series and this game7 was one of the greatest games Ive ever seen! Congrats Dodgers! Yamamoto has to be MVP of this series.
November 2, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Great series and this game7 was one of the greatest games Ive ever seen! Congrats Dodgers! Yamamoto has to be MVP of this series.
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
The latest work from our PRECISION Human Pain Center project is now up on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social led by Katherin Gabriel and @oliviadavis.bsky.social with a huge contribution from @allanhpool.bsky.social's lab and, of course, the Southwest Transplant Alliance: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A molecular map of the human spinal dorsal and ventral horn defines arrangement of neuronal types and glial sex differences
The spinal cord is the gateway for sensory information from the body as it ascends to the brain, as well as a major motor output center of the nervous system. It is also a key location for sensory-mot...
www.biorxiv.org
November 1, 2025 at 12:10 PM
The latest work from our PRECISION Human Pain Center project is now up on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social led by Katherin Gabriel and @oliviadavis.bsky.social with a huge contribution from @allanhpool.bsky.social's lab and, of course, the Southwest Transplant Alliance: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
We fully redesigned the device and added new sensors to create a more accurate and streamlined device able to deliver custom forces with automated reflexive measurements!
Thanks to @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social and all the other authors for your effort and support!
Thanks to @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social and all the other authors for your effort and support!
October 30, 2025 at 3:21 PM
We fully redesigned the device and added new sensors to create a more accurate and streamlined device able to deliver custom forces with automated reflexive measurements!
Thanks to @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social and all the other authors for your effort and support!
Thanks to @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social and all the other authors for your effort and support!
I love this work! And Im now convinced that flies feel pain, not just nociception.
Do flies feel pain?
Spooky new preprint from our lab on the cells and circuits that mediate nociceptive behaviors in adult Drosophila, led by graduate student (and newly minted PhD!) @jonesjes.bsky.social.
🪰⚡👻🎃
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Spooky new preprint from our lab on the cells and circuits that mediate nociceptive behaviors in adult Drosophila, led by graduate student (and newly minted PhD!) @jonesjes.bsky.social.
🪰⚡👻🎃
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 29, 2025 at 10:57 PM
I love this work! And Im now convinced that flies feel pain, not just nociception.
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
Catherine Dulac Named Xander University Professor 🧠 🧪🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @dulaclab.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @hhmi.org @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @dulaclab.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @hhmi.org @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social
Catherine Dulac Named Xander University Professor - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
MCB’s Catherine Dulac, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and renowned neuroscientist, has been appointed the Xander University Professor. Four Harvard scholars were recognized with appointm...
www.mcb.harvard.edu
October 29, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Catherine Dulac Named Xander University Professor 🧠 🧪🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @dulaclab.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @hhmi.org @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @dulaclab.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @hhmi.org @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social
All star line-up!
We're excited to announce the official lineup for our in-person event! 🎉
There's one week left to sign up - registration closes Nov. 1st. You don't want to miss this!
#StoriesOfWiN #SfN #WomenInNeuroscience
There's one week left to sign up - registration closes Nov. 1st. You don't want to miss this!
#StoriesOfWiN #SfN #WomenInNeuroscience
October 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
All star line-up!
Congrats to Leon Levy Scholar in my lab, Yuki Haba, on publishing his exciting PhD paper in Science from Lindy McBride’s lab at Princeton.
Where did an underground mosquito in London come from? @yukihaba.bsky.social in @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social ’s lab found that it evolved 1,000+ yrs ago, showing how early societies helped it thrive in modern times and imperil our health. @science.org @princeton.edu
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 24, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Congrats to Leon Levy Scholar in my lab, Yuki Haba, on publishing his exciting PhD paper in Science from Lindy McBride’s lab at Princeton.
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
I’m excited to announce that I’ve been selected as a winner of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications @scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org!!
Learn more: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10... #scicomm
Learn more: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10... #scicomm
October 23, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I’m excited to announce that I’ve been selected as a winner of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications @scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org!!
Learn more: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10... #scicomm
Learn more: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10... #scicomm
Beautiful research from the lab of HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar @karalmckinley.bsky.social
The mice could be used to better understand and treat heavy menstrual bleeding, and study reproductive health conditions such as endometriosis. https://scim.ag/473mwRw
Lab mice can now have periods like humans
Studies of rodents with a menstrual on/off switch could help people with endometriosis and other disorders
scim.ag
October 22, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Beautiful research from the lab of HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar @karalmckinley.bsky.social
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity!
We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
October 22, 2025 at 8:41 PM
🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity!
We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
Check out this exciting new tool from @ajboender.bsky.social - An aav based CRISPR-Cas9 strategy to knockdown dopamine receptors. Works in mice, voles and hamsters. It was a fun collaboration. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Comparative gene editing reduces dopamine receptor levels across rodent species
Translational challenges in neuroscience originate from species-specific differences that limit the generalizability of experimental findings. Comparative approaches can help distinguish conserved fro...
www.biorxiv.org
October 22, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Check out this exciting new tool from @ajboender.bsky.social - An aav based CRISPR-Cas9 strategy to knockdown dopamine receptors. Works in mice, voles and hamsters. It was a fun collaboration. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
New faculty job opening at @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social @columbiauniversity.bsky.social
Come be our colleague!
Application deadline: November 22
apply.interfolio.com/176153
Come be our colleague!
Application deadline: November 22
apply.interfolio.com/176153
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
New faculty job opening at @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social @columbiauniversity.bsky.social
Come be our colleague!
Application deadline: November 22
apply.interfolio.com/176153
Come be our colleague!
Application deadline: November 22
apply.interfolio.com/176153
Abdus-Saboor lab retreat at Mohonk Mountain House was a blast! I’m fortunate to work with such a great team.
October 21, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Abdus-Saboor lab retreat at Mohonk Mountain House was a blast! I’m fortunate to work with such a great team.
Reposted by Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
I am thrilled to share our latest work: we identified a population of central amygdala neurons that promote the earliest and perhaps most important social behavior: pup suckling!... We also developed new tools for pup neuroscience
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab
October 21, 2025 at 10:18 AM
I am thrilled to share our latest work: we identified a population of central amygdala neurons that promote the earliest and perhaps most important social behavior: pup suckling!... We also developed new tools for pup neuroscience
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab
Excited to share the final version of our paper, where we invented a robotic device (ARM) for pain and somatosensory testing in rodents. We are excited to see many groups already getting this device in their labs through our startup company Tactorum Inc.
elifesciences.org/articles/996...
elifesciences.org/articles/996...
October 20, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Excited to share the final version of our paper, where we invented a robotic device (ARM) for pain and somatosensory testing in rodents. We are excited to see many groups already getting this device in their labs through our startup company Tactorum Inc.
elifesciences.org/articles/996...
elifesciences.org/articles/996...