Kevin A Keay
@kevinkeay.bsky.social
Kevin Keay and Lab of Neural Structure & Function || Neuroscience of emotional coping in chronic pain || Science and Life || 🧠🌏🏳️🌈
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
An remarkable new undergraduate course conceived and taught by our amazing colleague and Dean of Science Jeff Lichtman: "Genuinely Hard Problems" I wish I was an undergrad again!... 🤣🧪🧬🧠
@harvardmcb.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @harvard.edu
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
@harvardmcb.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @harvard.edu
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
No one knows the answer, and that’s the point — Harvard Gazette
“Genuinely Hard Problems” pilots novel approach to scientific education.
news.harvard.edu
November 12, 2025 at 12:15 PM
An remarkable new undergraduate course conceived and taught by our amazing colleague and Dean of Science Jeff Lichtman: "Genuinely Hard Problems" I wish I was an undergrad again!... 🤣🧪🧬🧠
@harvardmcb.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @harvard.edu
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
@harvardmcb.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @harvard.edu
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Thanks to @massih.bsky.social for inviting me to co-author this commentary @science.org Mapping the anatomy of placebo analgesia | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Mapping the anatomy of placebo analgesia
The identification of somatotopy in brainstem pain modulatory pathways could help treat chronic pain
www.science.org
August 28, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Thanks to @massih.bsky.social for inviting me to co-author this commentary @science.org Mapping the anatomy of placebo analgesia | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Somatotopic organization of brainstem analgesic circuitry | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Somatotopic organization of brainstem analgesic circuitry
The lateral periaqueductal gray (lPAG) evokes somatotopically appropriate defensive behaviors, including an analgesia that allows the animal to escape or fight unimpeded. Whether the lPAG and its desc...
www.science.org
August 29, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Somatotopic organization of brainstem analgesic circuitry | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Conditioned Pain Modulation, Placebo and Offset Analgesia: Rates of Behavioural Expression of Inhibitory, Nonresponse and Facilitatory Pain Modulatory Effects - Crawford - 2025 - European Journal of Pain - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Conditioned Pain Modulation, Placebo and Offset Analgesia: Rates of Behavioural Expression of Inhibitory, Nonresponse and Facilitatory Pain Modulatory Effects
Background The brain is capable of powerfully inhibiting perceived pain intensity. Experimentally, three pain modulating phenomena have been well explored: placebo analgesia (PA), offset analgesia (...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 29, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Conditioned Pain Modulation, Placebo and Offset Analgesia: Rates of Behavioural Expression of Inhibitory, Nonresponse and Facilitatory Pain Modulatory Effects - Crawford - 2025 - European Journal of Pain - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
A history of injury enhances affective and sensory responses to predator threat by sensitizing corticosterone release through TRPA1 receptor signaling: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
A history of injury enhances affective and sensory responses to predator threat by sensitizing corticosterone release through TRPA1 receptor signaling
Baumbach et al. use a pain-priming model to show that a history of injury amplifies
predator-odor (TMT)-evoked fear and mechanical hypersensitivity that lasts for over
6 months. These responses depend...
www.cell.com
July 25, 2025 at 11:55 PM
A history of injury enhances affective and sensory responses to predator threat by sensitizing corticosterone release through TRPA1 receptor signaling: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Our new #OpenAccess Hormones & Behavior paper has dropped, featuring undergrad Jailyn. Maternal immune activation during the lactational period alters offspring behavior, reproductive development, & immune function in mice: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenScience #BrainResearch #NeuroSky
Maternal immune activation during the lactational period alters offspring behavior, reproductive development, and immune function in mice
Exposure to infection during early life can lead to lasting neurodevelopmental changes. Animal models of maternal immune activation (MIA) typically as…
www.sciencedirect.com
June 23, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Our new #OpenAccess Hormones & Behavior paper has dropped, featuring undergrad Jailyn. Maternal immune activation during the lactational period alters offspring behavior, reproductive development, & immune function in mice: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenScience #BrainResearch #NeuroSky
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Neural circuit underlying individual differences in visual escape habituation
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Neural circuit underlying individual differences in visual escape habituation
Liu et al. reveal distinct subcortical pathways from the superior colliculus to the
amygdala and insula cortical pathways that govern two visual escape behaviors in two
groups of mice, offering new in...
www.cell.com
May 9, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Neural circuit underlying individual differences in visual escape habituation
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
rdcu.be/egC1Z Our study explores how placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia affects pain in humans and rats. Using c-Fos in rats and fMRI in humans, we report significant common brain activity patterns. Our findings validate animal models for placebo research. #painresearch #painpapers
Direct comparisons of neural activity during placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia between humans and rats
Communications Biology - A novel framework for cross-species analysis reveals the conserved and species-specific neural circuitry underlying placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia.
rdcu.be
April 7, 2025 at 4:22 AM
rdcu.be/egC1Z Our study explores how placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia affects pain in humans and rats. Using c-Fos in rats and fMRI in humans, we report significant common brain activity patterns. Our findings validate animal models for placebo research. #painresearch #painpapers
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Register for the @Australian Pain Society 45th Annual Scientific Meeting, 13 – 16 April 2025, in Melbourne, Australia. Experience this beautiful city and a diverse program of pain management research, education, theory, and practice. Learn more and register: bit.ly/3R5xyN1
March 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Register for the @Australian Pain Society 45th Annual Scientific Meeting, 13 – 16 April 2025, in Melbourne, Australia. Experience this beautiful city and a diverse program of pain management research, education, theory, and practice. Learn more and register: bit.ly/3R5xyN1
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
🌷 Happy National Flower Day 🌷
Cortex, brain. Neurons (NeuN, magenta), axon initial segments (Ankyrin-G, green), nuclei (DAPI, blue)
#FluorescenceFriday #nationalflowerday #painneuroscience
Cortex, brain. Neurons (NeuN, magenta), axon initial segments (Ankyrin-G, green), nuclei (DAPI, blue)
#FluorescenceFriday #nationalflowerday #painneuroscience
March 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM
🌷 Happy National Flower Day 🌷
Cortex, brain. Neurons (NeuN, magenta), axon initial segments (Ankyrin-G, green), nuclei (DAPI, blue)
#FluorescenceFriday #nationalflowerday #painneuroscience
Cortex, brain. Neurons (NeuN, magenta), axon initial segments (Ankyrin-G, green), nuclei (DAPI, blue)
#FluorescenceFriday #nationalflowerday #painneuroscience
Body donor programs in Australia and New Zealand: Current status and future opportunities - anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…
We wish to thank the donors and their families whose altruism enables the continuation o#anatomym#educationon an#researchch including this study.
We wish to thank the donors and their families whose altruism enables the continuation o#anatomym#educationon an#researchch including this study.
https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…
February 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Body donor programs in Australia and New Zealand: Current status and future opportunities - anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…
We wish to thank the donors and their families whose altruism enables the continuation o#anatomym#educationon an#researchch including this study.
We wish to thank the donors and their families whose altruism enables the continuation o#anatomym#educationon an#researchch including this study.
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Don't miss the first SoMs Neuroscience Theme Meeting for 2025 - Tuesday 18 Feb with two fabulous speakers, Asheeta Prasad , and @nataliematosin.bsky.social
⬇️ @kevinkeay.bsky.social @sydneyuni.bsky.social
⬇️ @kevinkeay.bsky.social @sydneyuni.bsky.social
February 13, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Don't miss the first SoMs Neuroscience Theme Meeting for 2025 - Tuesday 18 Feb with two fabulous speakers, Asheeta Prasad , and @nataliematosin.bsky.social
⬇️ @kevinkeay.bsky.social @sydneyuni.bsky.social
⬇️ @kevinkeay.bsky.social @sydneyuni.bsky.social
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
New study with combined 7 Tesla MRI imaging and PET scan finds altered structures of nerves and neuroinflammation in migraine patients. Vey robust design that includes a control group and same cases as right/left side dominant migraines as controls.
#painresearch
#neuroskyence
#physio
🧪🛟
#painresearch
#neuroskyence
#physio
🧪🛟
Trigeminal nerve microstructure is linked with neuroinflammation and brainstem activity in migraine
Using multimodal imaging, Tohyama et al. show that individuals with migraine have white matter damage in the trigeminal nerve. This damage is associated wi
academic.oup.com
February 6, 2025 at 10:05 AM
New study with combined 7 Tesla MRI imaging and PET scan finds altered structures of nerves and neuroinflammation in migraine patients. Vey robust design that includes a control group and same cases as right/left side dominant migraines as controls.
#painresearch
#neuroskyence
#physio
🧪🛟
#painresearch
#neuroskyence
#physio
🧪🛟
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Are you interested in neuropathic #PainResearch #painscience? 🧪🧠? Get your abstract in now to join us for #NeuPSIG2025 in Berlin! neupsigcongress.org
NeuPSIG 2025 – International Congress on Neuropathic Pain
neupsigcongress.org
January 23, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Are you interested in neuropathic #PainResearch #painscience? 🧪🧠? Get your abstract in now to join us for #NeuPSIG2025 in Berlin! neupsigcongress.org
We show, glial changes in the peripheral nerve and brain in both nerve-injured and sham-injured rats using PET in a preclinical model of neuropathic pain readily translated for human #painresearch studies. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Evidence for glial reactivity using positron-emission tomography imaging of translocator Protein-18 kD [TSPO] in both sham and nerve-injured rats in a preclinical model of orofacial neuropathic pain
Chronic neuropathic pain is a debilitating condition that results from damage to the nervous system. Current treatments are largely ineffective, with …
www.sciencedirect.com
December 13, 2024 at 10:52 PM
We show, glial changes in the peripheral nerve and brain in both nerve-injured and sham-injured rats using PET in a preclinical model of neuropathic pain readily translated for human #painresearch studies. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Riding the year out on a high ✨ - latest paper out now in @pnas.org! ☺️ 🙏
Here we describe a role for the proton-sensing GPCR, GPR65 in mediating joint pain from fibroblast-like synoviocytes!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#PainResearch #Neuroskyence
More on this work below 👇 🧵 [1/10]
Here we describe a role for the proton-sensing GPCR, GPR65 in mediating joint pain from fibroblast-like synoviocytes!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#PainResearch #Neuroskyence
More on this work below 👇 🧵 [1/10]
Activation of the proton-sensing GPCR, GPR65 on fibroblast-like synoviocytes contributes to inflammatory joint pain | PNAS
Inflammation is associated with localized acidosis, however, attributing physiological
and pathological roles to proton-sensitive receptors is chal...
www.pnas.org
December 11, 2024 at 3:58 PM
Riding the year out on a high ✨ - latest paper out now in @pnas.org! ☺️ 🙏
Here we describe a role for the proton-sensing GPCR, GPR65 in mediating joint pain from fibroblast-like synoviocytes!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#PainResearch #Neuroskyence
More on this work below 👇 🧵 [1/10]
Here we describe a role for the proton-sensing GPCR, GPR65 in mediating joint pain from fibroblast-like synoviocytes!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#PainResearch #Neuroskyence
More on this work below 👇 🧵 [1/10]
Happy to share a recent podcast featuring awesome postdoc Dr James Kang from our lab talking with the Executive Dean of our Faculty about his recent work shows.acast.com/65b6ec6b1581...
Dr James Kang on chronic pain and the brain's response to nerve injury | Research Bytes
Bite-size findings from emerging and mid-career researchers at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Medicine and Health
shows.acast.com
December 10, 2024 at 4:35 AM
Happy to share a recent podcast featuring awesome postdoc Dr James Kang from our lab talking with the Executive Dean of our Faculty about his recent work shows.acast.com/65b6ec6b1581...
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
The paraventricular hypothalamus processes visceral and somatic pain in distinct ways: Visceral pain neurons express P2X3R and target the lateral septal nucleus, while somatic pain neurons express VIPR2 and project to the zona incerta, aiding targeted pain therapies.
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Distinct circuits and molecular targets of the paraventricular hypothalamus decode visceral and somatic pain
Li et al. identify the paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) as a pain sorting center that distinctly processes visceral and somatic pain. PVH neural ensembles activated by visceral and somatic pain exhibit unique transcriptional profiles and projection patterns, thus providing evidence for clinically targeted treatment of visceral and somatic pain.
www.cell.com
December 6, 2024 at 2:32 PM
The paraventricular hypothalamus processes visceral and somatic pain in distinct ways: Visceral pain neurons express P2X3R and target the lateral septal nucleus, while somatic pain neurons express VIPR2 and project to the zona incerta, aiding targeted pain therapies.
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
1/✨ New paper in #eNeuro! We looked at how dominance behaviors vary across mouse strains—turns out, it’s not one-size-fits-all!
Comparing CD1 & C57 male mice, we found strain-specific dominance behaviors that could change how we study social hierarchy in the lab…🧵
Paper here: tinyurl.com/bdeuf6s9
Comparing CD1 & C57 male mice, we found strain-specific dominance behaviors that could change how we study social hierarchy in the lab…🧵
Paper here: tinyurl.com/bdeuf6s9
November 25, 2024 at 5:23 PM
1/✨ New paper in #eNeuro! We looked at how dominance behaviors vary across mouse strains—turns out, it’s not one-size-fits-all!
Comparing CD1 & C57 male mice, we found strain-specific dominance behaviors that could change how we study social hierarchy in the lab…🧵
Paper here: tinyurl.com/bdeuf6s9
Comparing CD1 & C57 male mice, we found strain-specific dominance behaviors that could change how we study social hierarchy in the lab…🧵
Paper here: tinyurl.com/bdeuf6s9
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Was delighted to give Cambridge Philosophical Society’s AV Hill Lecture, “Pain: Why does it exist, how does it work & how can we more effectively treat it?”
An intro. to pain & overview of some of the exciting things people in our lab are doing!
#PainResearch #Neuroskyence
youtu.be/6dGjfbaRIfk
An intro. to pain & overview of some of the exciting things people in our lab are doing!
#PainResearch #Neuroskyence
youtu.be/6dGjfbaRIfk
Pain: Why does it exist, how does it work and how can we more effectively treat it?
YouTube video by Cambridge Philosophical Society
youtu.be
November 24, 2024 at 8:34 PM
Was delighted to give Cambridge Philosophical Society’s AV Hill Lecture, “Pain: Why does it exist, how does it work & how can we more effectively treat it?”
An intro. to pain & overview of some of the exciting things people in our lab are doing!
#PainResearch #Neuroskyence
youtu.be/6dGjfbaRIfk
An intro. to pain & overview of some of the exciting things people in our lab are doing!
#PainResearch #Neuroskyence
youtu.be/6dGjfbaRIfk
Reposted by Kevin A Keay
Gastric pain ascending pathway revealed: A glutamatergic tetra-synaptic brain circuit links the stomach to the brain via the vagus nerve in mice, offering new targets for relieving visceral pain!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A vagus nerve dominant tetra-synaptic ascending pathway for gastric pain processing - Nature Communications
Gastric pain has limited treatment options and the nociceptive ascending pathway remains largely unclear. Here, the authors identify a glutamatergic tetra-synaptic NTS–LPB–PVT–PL circuit that provides...
www.nature.com
November 20, 2024 at 7:00 PM
Gastric pain ascending pathway revealed: A glutamatergic tetra-synaptic brain circuit links the stomach to the brain via the vagus nerve in mice, offering new targets for relieving visceral pain!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
And now more from our great collaborator Prof LukeHenderson’s lab. Thomas Love shows fantastic 7T MRI studies identifying discrete brainstem nuclei participating in offset analgesia. Nice !!! #painresearch
November 20, 2024 at 11:21 PM
And now more from our great collaborator Prof LukeHenderson’s lab. Thomas Love shows fantastic 7T MRI studies identifying discrete brainstem nuclei participating in offset analgesia. Nice !!! #painresearch
And the next speaker is Molly from the lab talking about a very exciting finding looking at microglial morphology in the PAG in a preclinical model of trigeminal neuralgia… so proud of what she has achieved. Future #painresearch scientist.
November 20, 2024 at 10:58 PM
And the next speaker is Molly from the lab talking about a very exciting finding looking at microglial morphology in the PAG in a preclinical model of trigeminal neuralgia… so proud of what she has achieved. Future #painresearch scientist.