Nesia Zurek, PhD
@docnessmonster.bsky.social
Pain rerouted my life - so I made it my work.
Neuro nerd. Chronic illness realist.
I believe rest is power, science is for everyone, and the body knows more than we’re taught to trust.
Neuro nerd. Chronic illness realist.
I believe rest is power, science is for everyone, and the body knows more than we’re taught to trust.
“It's supernatural
Extraterrestrial
I know a bar out in Mars
Where they drivin' spaceships instead of cars” #KatyPerry #halloween
Extraterrestrial
I know a bar out in Mars
Where they drivin' spaceships instead of cars” #KatyPerry #halloween
October 31, 2025 at 9:23 PM
“It's supernatural
Extraterrestrial
I know a bar out in Mars
Where they drivin' spaceships instead of cars” #KatyPerry #halloween
Extraterrestrial
I know a bar out in Mars
Where they drivin' spaceships instead of cars” #KatyPerry #halloween
We lost an icon today! Activist, scientist, and a difficult woman! #JaneGoodall
October 1, 2025 at 11:22 PM
We lost an icon today! Activist, scientist, and a difficult woman! #JaneGoodall
⚡We are finally electrocuting DRG neurons in the @alleslab.bsky.social since moving to @cincychildrens.bsky.social! #PainResearch #ephys #NeuroSkyence
September 10, 2025 at 5:51 PM
⚡We are finally electrocuting DRG neurons in the @alleslab.bsky.social since moving to @cincychildrens.bsky.social! #PainResearch #ephys #NeuroSkyence
2/ Here is what the human spinal cord and real DRG look like in humans! Image from human donor and our journal cover in www.jpain.org/article/S152.... White arrows show the DRG, the same clusters shown in the cartoon above.
August 27, 2025 at 6:30 PM
2/ Here is what the human spinal cord and real DRG look like in humans! Image from human donor and our journal cover in www.jpain.org/article/S152.... White arrows show the DRG, the same clusters shown in the cartoon above.
1/ Word of the Week: Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG)
Clusters of nerve cell bodies (soma) near the spinal cord that relay sensory signals - including pain - from the body to the brain.
Curious what they look like in real human tissue? See thread below
#NeuroSkyence #PainResearch #ChronicPain #SciComm
Clusters of nerve cell bodies (soma) near the spinal cord that relay sensory signals - including pain - from the body to the brain.
Curious what they look like in real human tissue? See thread below
#NeuroSkyence #PainResearch #ChronicPain #SciComm
August 27, 2025 at 6:27 PM
1/ Word of the Week: Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG)
Clusters of nerve cell bodies (soma) near the spinal cord that relay sensory signals - including pain - from the body to the brain.
Curious what they look like in real human tissue? See thread below
#NeuroSkyence #PainResearch #ChronicPain #SciComm
Clusters of nerve cell bodies (soma) near the spinal cord that relay sensory signals - including pain - from the body to the brain.
Curious what they look like in real human tissue? See thread below
#NeuroSkyence #PainResearch #ChronicPain #SciComm
🧠From Lab To Life
Why do peripheral nerves suffer axonal loss in diabetes?
A study led by @dianatavf.bsky.social from the @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social lab showed how inflammation leads to neural fibrosis in diabetic peripheral neuropathy! #PainResearch #Neuroskyence #FromLabToLife 1/
Why do peripheral nerves suffer axonal loss in diabetes?
A study led by @dianatavf.bsky.social from the @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social lab showed how inflammation leads to neural fibrosis in diabetic peripheral neuropathy! #PainResearch #Neuroskyence #FromLabToLife 1/
August 22, 2025 at 3:14 PM
🧠From Lab To Life
Why do peripheral nerves suffer axonal loss in diabetes?
A study led by @dianatavf.bsky.social from the @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social lab showed how inflammation leads to neural fibrosis in diabetic peripheral neuropathy! #PainResearch #Neuroskyence #FromLabToLife 1/
Why do peripheral nerves suffer axonal loss in diabetes?
A study led by @dianatavf.bsky.social from the @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social lab showed how inflammation leads to neural fibrosis in diabetic peripheral neuropathy! #PainResearch #Neuroskyence #FromLabToLife 1/
📸 Big day in the lab!
Our new electrophysiology rig is officially up and running — huge thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Excited for the science ahead! 🧠⚡️
@alleslab.bsky.social @cincychildrens.bsky.social #PainResearch
Our new electrophysiology rig is officially up and running — huge thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Excited for the science ahead! 🧠⚡️
@alleslab.bsky.social @cincychildrens.bsky.social #PainResearch
August 20, 2025 at 1:51 PM
📸 Big day in the lab!
Our new electrophysiology rig is officially up and running — huge thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Excited for the science ahead! 🧠⚡️
@alleslab.bsky.social @cincychildrens.bsky.social #PainResearch
Our new electrophysiology rig is officially up and running — huge thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Excited for the science ahead! 🧠⚡️
@alleslab.bsky.social @cincychildrens.bsky.social #PainResearch
Gabapentin is widely prescribed for nerve pain, but it doesn’t work the same for everyone.
We studied actual human sensory neurons from donors and found that some responded strongly - and others hardly at all.
#fromlabtolife #neuroskyence #PainResearch 1/4
We studied actual human sensory neurons from donors and found that some responded strongly - and others hardly at all.
#fromlabtolife #neuroskyence #PainResearch 1/4
August 7, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Gabapentin is widely prescribed for nerve pain, but it doesn’t work the same for everyone.
We studied actual human sensory neurons from donors and found that some responded strongly - and others hardly at all.
#fromlabtolife #neuroskyence #PainResearch 1/4
We studied actual human sensory neurons from donors and found that some responded strongly - and others hardly at all.
#fromlabtolife #neuroskyence #PainResearch 1/4
🧠 From Lab to Life
New research shows Tylenol may quiet pain at its source by blocking Nav1.7 and Nav1.8, sodium channels critical for pain signaling.
That’s a big deal for the most common active ingredient in U.S. meds. 1/4
#FromLabToLife #PainResearch #NeuroSkyence
New research shows Tylenol may quiet pain at its source by blocking Nav1.7 and Nav1.8, sodium channels critical for pain signaling.
That’s a big deal for the most common active ingredient in U.S. meds. 1/4
#FromLabToLife #PainResearch #NeuroSkyence
August 2, 2025 at 12:45 PM
🧠 From Lab to Life
New research shows Tylenol may quiet pain at its source by blocking Nav1.7 and Nav1.8, sodium channels critical for pain signaling.
That’s a big deal for the most common active ingredient in U.S. meds. 1/4
#FromLabToLife #PainResearch #NeuroSkyence
New research shows Tylenol may quiet pain at its source by blocking Nav1.7 and Nav1.8, sodium channels critical for pain signaling.
That’s a big deal for the most common active ingredient in U.S. meds. 1/4
#FromLabToLife #PainResearch #NeuroSkyence
April 17, 2025 at 11:48 PM
In Oklahoma City we stayed at the Fordson Hotel. It used to be a Model T Assembly plant! Gorgeous hotel in a nice neighborhood west of downtown! Pierre and I finally felt like we could relax and breathe for the first time in days! #DogIsMyCopilot #Ford #ModelT #OKC #MovingOnUp
April 17, 2025 at 2:09 PM
In Oklahoma City we stayed at the Fordson Hotel. It used to be a Model T Assembly plant! Gorgeous hotel in a nice neighborhood west of downtown! Pierre and I finally felt like we could relax and breathe for the first time in days! #DogIsMyCopilot #Ford #ModelT #OKC #MovingOnUp
Hasta Luego Albuquerque! We are off on a new adventure to Cincinnati #NewBeginnings #CincinnatiBound
April 16, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Hasta Luego Albuquerque! We are off on a new adventure to Cincinnati #NewBeginnings #CincinnatiBound
Congrats to Dr. @goinsyeah.bsky.social for defending her thesis today 🎉🥂
March 6, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Congrats to Dr. @goinsyeah.bsky.social for defending her thesis today 🎉🥂
Got to hang with the amazing @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social today in NM! Talked some pain research and of course the terrible Luka trade! @goinsyeah.bsky.social
February 28, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Got to hang with the amazing @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social today in NM! Talked some pain research and of course the terrible Luka trade! @goinsyeah.bsky.social
New year, new notebooks! I designed these based on some images I took of some sensory neurons. Seemed like an appropriate lab holiday gift! #neuroskyence #PainResearch #SciArt
December 15, 2024 at 3:30 PM
New year, new notebooks! I designed these based on some images I took of some sensory neurons. Seemed like an appropriate lab holiday gift! #neuroskyence #PainResearch #SciArt
In our preprint on donor specific effects of gabapentin on DRG neurons www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We used a UMAP developed by @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social and team in pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38905344/ to show broad expression of a2d1 in DRG neurons. Thoughts on this use case? #UMAP
December 13, 2024 at 4:00 PM
In our preprint on donor specific effects of gabapentin on DRG neurons www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We used a UMAP developed by @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social and team in pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38905344/ to show broad expression of a2d1 in DRG neurons. Thoughts on this use case? #UMAP
Happy #FluorescenceFriday I love looking at all the connections neurons make! #neuroskyence #painresearch
December 13, 2024 at 3:37 PM
Happy #FluorescenceFriday I love looking at all the connections neurons make! #neuroskyence #painresearch
One of the simplest explanations of our pain circuitry I have read. In ‘Behave’ by Robert Sapolsky. ‘An insect bite throbs unbearably, we scratch hard right around it to dull the pain, and the slow, chronic pain pathway is shut down for up to a few minutes’ #painresearch #neuroskyence
December 12, 2024 at 1:07 AM
One of the simplest explanations of our pain circuitry I have read. In ‘Behave’ by Robert Sapolsky. ‘An insect bite throbs unbearably, we scratch hard right around it to dull the pain, and the slow, chronic pain pathway is shut down for up to a few minutes’ #painresearch #neuroskyence
#AnotherDayInParadise soaking these beach sunsets in while I can 🌅 #PuraVida
December 4, 2024 at 3:00 AM
#AnotherDayInParadise soaking these beach sunsets in while I can 🌅 #PuraVida
Interrupting your regularly scheduled programming with a sunset break #paradise #VacationMode #PuraVida
December 1, 2024 at 2:05 PM
Interrupting your regularly scheduled programming with a sunset break #paradise #VacationMode #PuraVida
My puppers, Marie and Pierre Curie 🐕🐕🦺
November 24, 2024 at 2:37 PM
My puppers, Marie and Pierre Curie 🐕🐕🦺
Jumped on the #ChatGPT "Given what you know about me, create an image" bandwagon. Both accurate to me, and scientifically inaccurate. 😂 #NeuroSkyence
November 23, 2024 at 2:48 AM
Jumped on the #ChatGPT "Given what you know about me, create an image" bandwagon. Both accurate to me, and scientifically inaccurate. 😂 #NeuroSkyence
Happy #FluorescenceFriday! Here’s a sneak peek at some exciting upcoming work in human DRG neurons. Stay tuned for a preprint in the coming weeks. Feeling grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this research! #Neuroskyence #PainResearch
November 22, 2024 at 2:51 PM
Happy #FluorescenceFriday! Here’s a sneak peek at some exciting upcoming work in human DRG neurons. Stay tuned for a preprint in the coming weeks. Feeling grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this research! #Neuroskyence #PainResearch