Justin Burdge, PhD
@justinburdge.bsky.social
Neuroscience researcher working to improve how we conduct pain and touch research. Co-Founder Tactorum Inc. Post Doctoral Fellow Abraira Lab Rutgers University.
Pinned
So excited to announce the first of TACTORUM’s ARM devices for automating pain/touch assays in mice has been delivered to @changsbrain.bsky.social ‘s lab at @northwellhealth.bsky.social. Looking forward to all the exciting questions they will explore with it!
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 Justin Burdge, PhD
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/...
Shoutouts to @nyupainresearch.bsky.social @vabraira.bsky.social @dr-lupo.bsky.social @sdavidson.bsky.social @karapedsgastrodoc.bsky.social for helping organize!
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 6:35 PM
Shoutouts to @nyupainresearch.bsky.social @vabraira.bsky.social @dr-lupo.bsky.social @sdavidson.bsky.social @karapedsgastrodoc.bsky.social for helping organize!
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.
Excited to announce my thesis paper with is now in print at ELIfe! Excited to share our updated work on automating evoked touch/pain assays in rodents, and the further advancements we’ve made for #PainResearch!
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
October 30, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Excited to announce my thesis paper with is now in print at ELIfe! Excited to share our updated work on automating evoked touch/pain assays in rodents, and the further advancements we’ve made for #PainResearch!
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
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...
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
🎤 Call for Symposia Proposals topics related to clinical practice, basic science or mechanisms, and translational research related to pain. Ideally, presentations include multiple disciplines.
The deadline to submit proposals is October 15, 2025
The deadline to submit proposals is October 15, 2025
October 15, 2025 at 6:16 PM
🎤 Call for Symposia Proposals topics related to clinical practice, basic science or mechanisms, and translational research related to pain. Ideally, presentations include multiple disciplines.
The deadline to submit proposals is October 15, 2025
The deadline to submit proposals is October 15, 2025
It was an honor to give a talk before such an incredible crowd of researchers at the NIH Pain in Animals workshop! #PainResearch
Next up, it’s @justinburdge.bsky.social talking about tools & analysis for measuring pain behaviours in rodents #PainResearch
September 25, 2025 at 8:09 PM
It was an honor to give a talk before such an incredible crowd of researchers at the NIH Pain in Animals workshop! #PainResearch
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
Check it out! An interview on pain mechanisms and therapeutics with Dr. Clifford Woolf, PhD, MB, Bch of Harvard Medical School by Julia Nickols at the North American Pain School is now posted on PRF! painresearchforum.org. @utdpaincenter.bsky.social @iasp.bsky.social @usasp.bsky.social
August 22, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Check it out! An interview on pain mechanisms and therapeutics with Dr. Clifford Woolf, PhD, MB, Bch of Harvard Medical School by Julia Nickols at the North American Pain School is now posted on PRF! painresearchforum.org. @utdpaincenter.bsky.social @iasp.bsky.social @usasp.bsky.social
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
Another week, another ARM device installed. This time in the lab of HHMI Investigator Richard Palmiter. They are doing cool long-term pain studies and this device is perfect for their needs.
May 27, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Another week, another ARM device installed. This time in the lab of HHMI Investigator Richard Palmiter. They are doing cool long-term pain studies and this device is perfect for their needs.
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
Excited to see Jeff Mogil getting an ARM device in his lab for automated and remote mechanical stimulation for use in pre-clinical pain & somatosensation studies.
May 21, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Excited to see Jeff Mogil getting an ARM device in his lab for automated and remote mechanical stimulation for use in pre-clinical pain & somatosensation studies.
Nothing makes you hungrier than a time zone change and a missed lunch. Looking forward to these tacos, Seattle let’s see what you’ve got!
May 21, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Nothing makes you hungrier than a time zone change and a missed lunch. Looking forward to these tacos, Seattle let’s see what you’ve got!
Enjoyed my first times in Chicago and @usasp.bsky.social this past week! So much exciting work happening in the pain field, I have a feeling that the groundwork for some fantastic collaborations was laid this week!
May 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Enjoyed my first times in Chicago and @usasp.bsky.social this past week! So much exciting work happening in the pain field, I have a feeling that the groundwork for some fantastic collaborations was laid this week!
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
My first time at #usasp2025. Great science, new and old friends. First talk in a symposium at an international conference. Thank you to my co-speakers @stefpuig.bsky.social and Ream Al-Asani
May 3, 2025 at 1:40 AM
My first time at #usasp2025. Great science, new and old friends. First talk in a symposium at an international conference. Thank you to my co-speakers @stefpuig.bsky.social and Ream Al-Asani
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
Cool new study from @vabraira.bsky.social lab on tactile hypersensitivity associated with chronic pain. Glad we could collaborate. One cool thing Abraira lab did was use high-speed videography plus the PAWS pain detection system for uncovering pain behaviors.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The dorsal column nuclei scale mechanical sensitivity in naive and neuropathic pain states
During pathological conditions, tactile stimuli can aberrantly engage nociceptive pathways leading to the perception of touch as pain, known as mechan…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 23, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Cool new study from @vabraira.bsky.social lab on tactile hypersensitivity associated with chronic pain. Glad we could collaborate. One cool thing Abraira lab did was use high-speed videography plus the PAWS pain detection system for uncovering pain behaviors.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
Happy to see this device in the lab of a happy customer. There is much to do to improve pre-clinical pain/touch research, and we strongly believe this automated robot ARM can become a gold standard in the field. Exciting to see so many orders coming in!
Thanks to @justinburdge.bsky.social and @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social for delivering the ARM device to our lab, which includes Drs Kevin Tracey, Sangeeta Chavan, and Huan Yang. We'll use the ARM for high-resolution automated assessments of pain sensitivity in the context of neurogenic inflammation!
April 22, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Happy to see this device in the lab of a happy customer. There is much to do to improve pre-clinical pain/touch research, and we strongly believe this automated robot ARM can become a gold standard in the field. Exciting to see so many orders coming in!
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
Thanks to @justinburdge.bsky.social and @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social for delivering the ARM device to our lab, which includes Drs Kevin Tracey, Sangeeta Chavan, and Huan Yang. We'll use the ARM for high-resolution automated assessments of pain sensitivity in the context of neurogenic inflammation!
April 22, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Thanks to @justinburdge.bsky.social and @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social for delivering the ARM device to our lab, which includes Drs Kevin Tracey, Sangeeta Chavan, and Huan Yang. We'll use the ARM for high-resolution automated assessments of pain sensitivity in the context of neurogenic inflammation!
So excited to announce the first of TACTORUM’s ARM devices for automating pain/touch assays in mice has been delivered to @changsbrain.bsky.social ‘s lab at @northwellhealth.bsky.social. Looking forward to all the exciting questions they will explore with it!
April 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM
So excited to announce the first of TACTORUM’s ARM devices for automating pain/touch assays in mice has been delivered to @changsbrain.bsky.social ‘s lab at @northwellhealth.bsky.social. Looking forward to all the exciting questions they will explore with it!
I’ve always thought experimental schematics should include time of even, if just a range. Instead I can’t remember the last methods section that included it.
March 20, 2025 at 3:36 AM
I’ve always thought experimental schematics should include time of even, if just a range. Instead I can’t remember the last methods section that included it.
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
I started 2025 with so much enthusiasm for the science I would do… that’s pretty much evaporated
February 8, 2025 at 10:12 PM
I started 2025 with so much enthusiasm for the science I would do… that’s pretty much evaporated
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
WTF! So starting Monday NIH indirects to all universities moved to 15%. This would cripple schools. This is madness.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-25-068: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates NOT-OD-25-068. OD
grants.nih.gov
February 7, 2025 at 11:37 PM
WTF! So starting Monday NIH indirects to all universities moved to 15%. This would cripple schools. This is madness.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
So I come up for air from coding all day, and apparently my NSF grant will probably be rejected because I referred to female mice and barriers to entry for a scientific technique. I got nothing.
February 4, 2025 at 2:44 PM
So I come up for air from coding all day, and apparently my NSF grant will probably be rejected because I referred to female mice and barriers to entry for a scientific technique. I got nothing.
Reposted by Justin Burdge, PhD
Monumental day for pain management and the study of pain.
A long-awaited nonopioid pain drug has won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat moderate to severe short-term pain.
Nonopioid drug for acute pain wins FDA approval
Ongoing trials will reveal whether suzetrigine is also effective against chronic pain
scim.ag
January 31, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Monumental day for pain management and the study of pain.
Gotta say conductors trying out their standup via the subway intercom is in objective improvement.
January 20, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Gotta say conductors trying out their standup via the subway intercom is in objective improvement.
If I decided to study instead of going to @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social talk to an undergrad neuro club freshman year, pain research would have never even crossed my mind.
Totally agree, and also happy to note that luck has played a huge role in my career. I never had any intention of working in the pain field. I don't meet Ken Hargreaves, Chris Flores, and Greg Dussor (PhD student version of Greg), and there is almost zero chance I would be where I am.
💯 - saying luck played a part in your success doesn't mean you didn't work hard or aren't smart (and of course chance favors the prepared mind), but it does mean there are other smart, hard-working people whose lack of similar success is not because of lack of ability/potential
December 9, 2024 at 8:57 PM
If I decided to study instead of going to @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social talk to an undergrad neuro club freshman year, pain research would have never even crossed my mind.