Matt Sapio
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mattsapio.bsky.social
Matt Sapio
@mattsapio.bsky.social
590 followers 510 following 35 posts
Pain neuroscientist. Views are my own.

National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD
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mattsapio.bsky.social
Matt Sapio @mattsapio.bsky.social · May 27
This study has been going on for the entirety of my time at NIH. It is incredibly gratifying to finally see it published to have something to point to for the work that has been put into this, both on this specific project and in making RTX a medicine more broadly.

evidence.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Treatment of Intractable Cancer Pain with Resiniferatoxin — An Interim Study
A substantial number of patients with advanced cancer suffer from refractory pain despite comprehensive medical management. In this article, we evaluate a nonopioid analgesic, resiniferatoxin (RTX)...
evidence.nejm.org
Reposted by Matt Sapio
amyengevik.bsky.social
Is this too Lisa Frank for a journal cover? #MicroscopyMonday
August 19, 2025 at 1:33 AM
mattsapio.bsky.social
A rare opportunity to have our work highlighted by NIH.
www.nih.gov/news-events/...
NIH scientists pioneer promising treatment for intractable cancer pain
RTX is a non-addictive pain therapy derived from a cactus-like plant.
www.nih.gov
May 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM
mattsapio.bsky.social
This study has been going on for the entirety of my time at NIH. It is incredibly gratifying to finally see it published to have something to point to for the work that has been put into this, both on this specific project and in making RTX a medicine more broadly.

evidence.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Treatment of Intractable Cancer Pain with Resiniferatoxin — An Interim Study
A substantial number of patients with advanced cancer suffer from refractory pain despite comprehensive medical management. In this article, we evaluate a nonopioid analgesic, resiniferatoxin (RTX)...
evidence.nejm.org
May 27, 2025 at 6:20 PM
mattsapio.bsky.social
This is quite interesting. We also observed this in our study of ADORA3 expression in human DRG. Beautiful staining in this one.
tbertalab.bsky.social tBerta Lab @tbertalab.bsky.social · Apr 8
🔬 Exciting discovery! We've been curious about the function of unique IBA1+ cell staining we observed around healthy human DRG neurons in the lab (indicated by red arrows). A new paper @cellpress.bsky.social finally provides some answers. Link: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
May 4, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
taylorpriest.bsky.social
A huge, new resource for plasmid research - PlasmidScope is a database of 852,000 #plasmid sequences with a rich set of annotations, automated online analysis and interactive visualisation academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
PlasmidScope: a comprehensive plasmid database with rich annotations and online analytical tools
Abstract. Plasmids are extrachromosomal genetic molecules that replicate independent of chromosomes in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotic organisms. They co
academic.oup.com
April 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
delalamo.xyz
ProGen3 is out and shows a cool result: as PLMs get larger, they can successfully generate across a broader cross-section of the protein fold space www.profluent.bio/showcase/pro...
Figure 2. Larger protein language models access broader swaths of sequence space, enabling generation of more diverse sequences.
April 21, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
ardemp.bskyverified.social
From @alexchesler.bsky.social lab!!
elife.bsky.social eLife @elife.bsky.social · Apr 19
Turns out, two of pain’s most famous messengers — Substance P and CGRPα — might not be so essential after all. Mice missing both still felt pain just fine, challenging decades of assumptions about how pain signals travel.
buff.ly/ypISrtx
different coloured mice on a white background
April 19, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
jcsalterego.bsky.social
i mean it's one five-minute task, michael. how long could it take to get started on it, ten days?
April 13, 2025 at 9:06 PM
mattsapio.bsky.social
“Currently, onerous conflict of interest rules and other forces inhibits an easy exchange between academia-biotech-private equity...”

This seems like something to contemplate. It never made sense to me that we can’t differentiate conflict of interest from healthy convergence of interest.
peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social · Apr 13
My latest in @plosbiology.org Look I get it, it seems really dark, but there are opportunities. My paper explores some ideas and tries to guide ways of thinking through the anticipated challenges. An emphasis on America’s “biohubs” and entrepreneurship

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
April 13, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
dimacd.bsky.social
I'm shook!! www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Carriers of SCN9A variants linked to inherited and acquired pain syndromes show no alteration in the prevalence of pain or analgesic usage in the UK Biobank cohort
The voltage-gated sodium channel NaV1.7, encoded by the SCN9A gene, is integral to nociceptor excitability and pain sensation. Multiple gain-of-function SCN9A variants have been reported to cause auto...
www.medrxiv.org
March 19, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
josemald.bsky.social
Choroid plexus is often lost during tissue sectioning and overall anatomy can be difficult if not impossible to reconstruct. Here we observe the vascular anatomy of human choroid plexus as if through a jeweler’s loupe. Sample courtesy of Matthew Schrag and Neil Dani. #FluorescenceFriday
April 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
elife.bsky.social
A new 2D gene expression map of the mouse brain during early development.
Mapping brain development
A new study provides a two-dimensional gene expression map during early brain development.
elifesciences.org
April 12, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social
BOOM! Human DRG patch-seq with Nav1.8 and Nav1.7 upregulation associated with a history pain in organ donors. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Great stuff from the #PRECISIONPain Center at WashU led by @robgereau.bsky.social
Human sensory neurons exhibit cell-type-specific, pain-associated differences in intrinsic excitability and expression of SCN9A and SCN10A
Despite the prevalence of chronic pain, the approval of novel, non-opioid therapeutics has been slow. A major translational challenge in analgesic development is the difference in gene expression and ...
www.biorxiv.org
March 27, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
abhiaggarwal.bsky.social
🚨iGluSnFR4 is finally out!🚨🧪

We present iGluSnFR4f and 4s, a novel pair of genetically-encoded glutamate indicators designed for high-fidelity imaging of synaptic activity in the living brain. ⬇️

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🎥 Below: iGluSnFR4s detecting minis in cultures w/ TTX

#Neuroscience
March 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social
Our program manager extraordinaire, Ayesha Ahmad, is leaving us, so we have an exciting position open to take on her role. jobs.utdallas.edu/postings/28956 In addition to this being an exciting position, you will also get to learn from Ayesha before she departs.
Program Manager I
This position will be responsible for managing and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Human Nociceptor and Spinal Cord Molecular Signature Center under the direction of Dr. Ted Price. Key dut...
jobs.utdallas.edu
March 19, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
washingtonpost.com
Measuring pain, one of the most fundamental tasks in medicine, remains one of the least accurate.

But researchers are now on a quest to find objective biological indicators of pain that will enable doctors to quantify it as they do heart rate and blood pressure.
Researchers search for more precise ways to measure pain
Measuring pain, one of the most fundamental tasks in medicine, remains one of the least accurate.
www.washingtonpost.com
March 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
zenbrainest.bsky.social
Congrats to all —essential reading for those interested in #psychedelics

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The structural diversity of psychedelic drug actions revealed - Nature Communications
The authors present 7 cryo-EM structures of hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic compounds across multiple chemotypes bound to the 5-HT2A receptor, shedding light onto ligand specificity and sig...
www.nature.com
March 20, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
psalmotoxin.bsky.social
Cool overview of #osteoarthritis, which will be of interest to many in #neuroskyence & #PainResearch communities. Thanks to @tuhinaneogi.bsky.social, @jointsintheworld.bsky.social & others!

Some figures that will doubtless appear in many talks in years to come!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This figure shows the healthy joint (part a) and osteoarthritic joint (part b). Almost all tissue structures in osteoarthritis joint tissues show pathological changes, including articular cartilage degradation, fibrosis and inflammation of the synovium and infrapatellar fat pad, subchondral bone remodelling, meniscal damage and ligament damage. This figure outlines the hierarchical relationship between individual-level (influenced by genetic, systemic and lifestyle factors) and joint-level (specific to joint anatomy and function) risk factors that contribute to the susceptibility, progression and burden of osteoarthritis. Modifiable risk factors (blue) and non-modifiable risk factors (red) are also displayed. Knee osteoarthritis is one of the most common joint diseases, characterized by pathological changes that involve the degradation of articular cartilage, inflammation and fibrosis of the synovium and infrapatellar fat pad, and remodelling of the subchondral bone. Cartilage degradation is driven by the excessive activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and ADAMTS enzymes, leading to the breakdown of collagen and proteoglycans, resulting in cartilage becoming thinner and cracked, compromising its cushioning function, and causing joint pain and stiffness. Meanwhile, synovial tissue shows chronic inflammation, including congestion, synovial cell hyperplasia and inflammatory cell infiltration, increasing inflammatory factors in the synovial fluid and further damaging the cartilage. The infrapatellar fat pad is also affected, with fibrosis potentially altering mechanical properties around the joint, affecting movement. The subchondral bone undergoes significant structural changes such as sclerosis and abnormal remodelling, which can lead to osteophyte formation, altering joint mechanics and increasing cartilage load. The sclerosis changes stress distribution within the joint, exacerbating cartilage damage. These pathological processes are interconnected, forming a complex network where inflammatory factors, such as IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF, further promote cartilage degradation and synovial inflammation. Mechanical stress signals activate chondrocytes and bone cells, accelerating lesion progression. Senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors from chondrocytes or matrix-degrading enzymes secreted by osteoclasts and synovium/fat pad cells interact to exacerbate tissue damage, highlighting the importance of understanding these cellular and molecular interactions for effective osteoarthritis treatment. ARGS, aggrecanase generated aggrecan amino acids alanine, arginine, glycine, serine. a, Overview of the peripheral pain pathway in joint pain. Noxious stimuli activate the peripheral terminals of nociceptors that innervate joint tissues. Depolarization of nerve terminals initiates the firing of action potentials that invade the dorsal root ganglia, where the cell bodies reside. This requires the activation of voltage-gated sodium channels NaV1.7, NaV1.8 and NaV1.9. Signals are transmitted to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, where nociceptors synapse with second-order neurons — either interneurons (not shown) or projection neurons that cross to the contralateral side and carry the signal up the spinal cord. From there, the signals are propagated to higher regions of the central nervous system and different areas of the brain, where they are perceived as pain. b, Peripheral terminals of nociceptors express voltage-gated sodium channels and ion channels, such as TRPV1, or mechanosensitive ion channels such as Piezo2. They also express receptors for inflammatory mediators released by degrading and inflamed joint tissues, such as nerve growth factor (NGF), CCL2 or disease-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). c, Anatomical neuroplasticity occurs as part of osteoarthritis pathology, including neo-innervation of the synovium and sprouting of nociceptors in the subchondral bone, which may breach the tidemark.
March 10, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
utdpaincenter.bsky.social
✨ #FluorescenceFriday ✨

Check out this beautiful image of a stained spinal cord! Neurons (magenta) microglia (cyan), and nuclei(blue). 🧠🔬

#Neuroscience #ScienceArt #MicroscopyMagic #CellularBeauty #ResearchLife #painneuroscience
Stained image of a spinal cord, Neurons (magenta) microglia (cyan), and nuclei(blue)
March 7, 2025 at 4:07 PM
mattsapio.bsky.social
This started as a small project in the lab to get our staining to be cleaner and evolved thanks to a lot of hard work by our very talented fellow Diana King who is now at UPenn doing her PhD. We’ve been sharing the device and all I can say is it works REALLY WELL.
www.jpain.org/article/S152...
Efficient removal of naturally-occurring lipofuscin autofluorescence in human nervous tissue using high-intensity white light.
Background autofluorescence is enhanced in human tissue relative to small animals and presents a barrier to fully realizing the potential of novel multiplex methods in human studies. In particular, li...
www.jpain.org
March 7, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
natureportfolio.nature.com
Tiny plastic particles may accumulate at higher levels in the human brain than in the kidney and liver, with greater concentrations detected in postmortem samples from 2024 than in those from 2016, suggests a paper in Nature Medicine. https://go.nature.com/414lf9S #Medsky 🧪
This is figure 2, which is a visualization of putative plastics in the brain.
February 15, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
haoyin.bsky.social
#PsoriasisVulgaris #AutoimmuneDisease #SpatialTranscriptomics StereoSeq

A fibro-angiogenic niche in psoriatic👤skin epidermis
WNT5A+ fibroblast
VCAN+ #SmoothMuscleCell
ITIH5+ #EndothelialCell

Fibroblast, SMC & Schwann cell are major signal senders

#BrJDermatol 2024
academic.oup.com/bjd/advance-...
December 15, 2024 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
haoyin.bsky.social
Evidence for an active role of #EndothalialCell in #Aortopathy

EC TRPV4 activity⏫
🐭#AbdominalAorticAneurysm (local elastase)
via⏫EC #Apoptosis (how does this propagate to #SmoothMuscleCell loss) w/o altering #NitricOxide

#AortaEd
#EurJPharmacol 2024
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 28, 2024 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
nyupainresearch.bsky.social
CGRP/RAMP1-mediated communication between TRPV1+ nociceptors and macrophages contributes to the growth of endometriosis lesions and associated pain, highlighting a potential treatment by inhibiting this pathway #Painresearch www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Nociceptor-to-macrophage communication through CGRP/RAMP1 signaling drives endometriosis-associated pain and lesion growth in mice
Blocking nociceptor CGRP to RAMP1 signaling in macrophages reduces endometriosis pain and lesion growth in a mouse model of the disease.
www.science.org
November 28, 2024 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Matt Sapio
zenbrainest.bsky.social
November 28, 2024 at 12:31 AM