The year 2022 saw many of us finally reconnecting in person once again, highlighted by the IASP 2022 World Congress on Pain! While we all continue to adapt to our new “hybrid” world, it's undeniable that we’re able to connect and collaborate in ways many of us never envisioned a decade ago. The results speak for themselves, as it was another tremendous year in pain research.
A look back at our coverage from the past year reveals that the most popular PRF news story of 2022 explored our use – and misuse – of pain terminology, from the desk of Laura Sirucek, a PhD candidate at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Among Papers of the Week in 2022, a collaboration – including Luda Diatchenko, Massimo Allegri, and Jeffrey Mogil et al. – which investigated how neutrophil activation can protect against pain chronification, took home the top spot (see PRF related news story). As PRF continues to provide virtual education through our seminars, IASP’s Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group grabbed every spot on the podium after hosting our top three most popular events of the year. Finally, the IASP-PRF Podcast and The Pain Beat continued to surge in popularity and found their top entries of 2022 to be episodes exploring descending control pathways and the evolution of nociceptors, respectively.
You can take a look at our full Top Five lists below. While we’re looking back at 2022, there’s a lot to look forward to in 2023. In January, PRF will be launching its new website! The site will feature an updated aesthetic, easier site navigation, enhanced search functionality, and the same commitment to bringing you the latest in pain research.
Thanks for your continued commitment to PRF, and we’ll see you in 2023!
The Top Five PRF News Stories of 2022
1. Central Sensitization and the Curse of Ambiguous Terminology: An Opinion (16 September 2022)
by Laura Sirucek
Terminology in scientific research matters. Especially when we collectively misuse a term like “central sensitization” when disseminating our findings.
2. Neutrophils Put the Brakes on Acute Pain Becoming Chronic (25 May 2022)
by Fred Schwaller
Neutrophils help prevent the transition from acute to chronic pain after injury. Dampening their activity with anti-inflammatory drugs, like ibuprofen or diclofenac, can prolong pain duration.
3. How Does Pain Lead to a Decrease in Brain Dopamine Levels? (7 January 2022)
by Charlie Kwok
Incoming pain signals from the spinal cord reach the lateral parabrachial nucleus in the brainstem, and a subpopulation of its projection neurons acts to inhibit dopamine release from neurons in the midbrain.
4. Psychedelics: A Notable Absence in Chronic Pain Management? (30 September 2022)
by Catherine Paré
Psychedelics have experienced an increase in research interest, particularly in mental health, during the past decade. Despite promising results on the positive impact of psychedelics for chronic pain management, research in this context has been slow.
5. From Macrophages with Love: How Mitochondria Transfer to Nociceptors Resolves Inflammatory Pain (17 October 2022)
by Fred Schwaller
New animal model data show that resolution of inflammatory pain is an active process driven by macrophages donating healthy mitochondria to dorsal root ganglia neurons.
The Top Five PRF Papers of the Week of 2022
Parisien M, Lima LV, Dagostino C, El-Hachem N, Drury GL, Grant AV, Huising J, Verma V, Meloto CB, Silva JR, Dutra GGS, Markova T, Dang H, Tessier PA, Slade GD, Nackley AG, Ghasemlou N, Mogil JS, Allegri M, Diatchenko L
Sci Transl Med. 2022 May 11.
2. A spinal microglia population involved in remitting and relapsing neuropathic pain.
Kohno K, Shirasaka R, Yoshihara K, Mikuriya S, Tanaka K, Takanami K, Inoue K, Sakamoto H, Ohkawa Y, Masuda T, Tsuda M
Science. 2022 Apr.
3. Spatial transcriptomics of dorsal root ganglia identifies molecular signatures of human nociceptors.
Tavares-Ferreira D, Shiers S, Ray PR, Wangzhou A, Jeevakumar V, Sankaranarayanan I, Cervantes AM, Reese JC, Chamessian A, Copits BA, Dougherty PM, Gereau RW, Burton MD, Dussor G, Price TJ
Sci Transl Med. 2022 Feb 16.
4. Soft, bioresorbable coolers for reversible conduction block of peripheral nerves.
Reeder JT, Xie Z, Yang Q, Seo M-H, Yan Y, Deng Y, Jinkins KR, Krishnan SR, Liu C, McKay S, Patnaude E, Johnson A, Zhao Z, Kim M J, Xu Y, Huang I, Avila R, Felicelli C, Ray E, Guo X, et al.
Science. 2022 Jul.
5. Chronic pain causes Tau-mediated hippocampal pathology and memory deficits.
Guerreiro SR, Guimarães MR, Silva JM, Dioli C, Vamvaka-Iakovou A, Sousa R, Gomes P, Megalokonomou A, Campos-Marques C, Cunha A M, Almeida A, Sousa N, Leite-Almeida H, Sotiropoulos I
Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 02.
The Top Five PRF Virtual Seminars of 2022 (Live Attendees + Recording Views)
1. IASP Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group Workshop: Update on Advances in Clinical Science and Management (21 February 2022)
Presented by Andrea Truini, MD, PhD, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, Helena Knotkova, PhD, PhilD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, Barbara Namer, MD, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and Srinivasa N. Raja, MD, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, US.
2. IASP Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group Workshop: Update on Advances in Basic Science (7 March 2022)
Presented by Michael Burton, PhD, The University of Texas at Dallas, US, Manuela Schmidt, PhD, University of Vienna, Austria, Nurcan Üçeyler, MD, University of Würzburg, Germany, and Fani Neto, PhD, University of Porto, Portugal.
3. IASP Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group Workshop: Neuropathic Pain and COVID-19 (7 February 2022)
Presented by Daniel Ciampi de Andrade, MD, PhD, Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain at Aalborg University, Denmark, Chioma Odozor, MD, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, US, Chung Jung Mun (“Moon”), PhD, Arizona State University, US, and Margarita Calvo, MD, PhD, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago.
4. Part 2: 2021 Rita Allen Foundation Award in Pain Scholars (27 May 2022)
Presented by Gregory Corder, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, US, Gwendolyn Hoben, MD, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin, US, and Jordan McCall, PhD, MPH, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, US.
5. Part 1: 2021 Rita Allen Foundation Award in Pain Scholars (24 May 2022)
Presented by Aaron Mickle, PhD, University of Florida, US, Nicole Scheff, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, US, and Edgar Alfonso Romero-Sandoval, MD, PhD, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, US.
The Top Five IASP Pain Research Forum Podcast Episodes of 2022
1. Defining Descending Control Pathways: A Podcast With Kirsty Bannister (17 March 2022)
Featuring Kirsty Bannister, PhD, King’s College London, UK, and Bhushan Thakkar, PhD candidate, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, US.
2. Effect of Graded Sensorimotor Retraining in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain (18 August 2022)
Featuring Matthew Bagg, PhD – Aidan Cashin, PhD – Edel O’Hagan, PhD – James McAuley, PhD, Centre for Pain IMPACT at NeuRA, Sydney, Australia, and Lincoln Tracy, PhD, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
3. Engaging with Our Patient Partners in a Meaningful Way to Enhance Chronic Pain Research and Academia – Part 2: A Podcast with Sarah D’Angelo (17 June 2022)
Featuring Sarah D’Angelo, Rutgers University, and Bhushan Thakkar, PhD candidate, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, US.
4. Engaging With Our Patient Partners in a Meaningful Way to Enhance Chronic Pain Research and Academia – Part 1: A Podcast With Emeralda Burke (29 April 2022)
Featuring Emeralda Burke, Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute and Bhushan Thakkar, PhD candidate, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, US.
5. From the Pipette to the Public: A Podcast with Staja “Star” Booker (7 October 2022)
Featuring Staja “Star” Booker, University of Florida, US, and Paulina Scheuren, PhD, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
The Top Five Pain Beat Episodes of 2022
1. Evolution of Nociceptors (14 April 2022)
Featuring Greg Neely, PhD, University of Sydney, Australia, Edgar T. Walters, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, US, Robyn Crook, PhD, San Francisco State University, California, US, Ewan St. John Smith, PhD, University of Cambridge, UK, Ted Price, PhD, University of Texas at Dallas, US, and Peter Grace, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, US.
2. Nobel Prize: A Conversation with David Julius and Michael Caterina (19 August 2022)
Featuring David Julius, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, US, Michael Caterina, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, US, and Tayler Sheahan, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, US.
3. Pain Research During the Pandemic and Beyond (10 March 2022)
Featuring Theanne Griffith, PhD, University of California, Davis, US, Kelly Smith, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, US, Kara Marshall, PhD, Baylor University, Texas, US, Lindsay Ejoh, PhD candidate, University of Pennsylvania, US, and Tayler Sheahan, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, US.
4. Nobel Prize: A Conversation with Ardem Patapoutian and Bertrand Coste (14 September 2022)
Featuring Ardem Patapoutian, PhD, Scripps Research, California, US, Bertrand Coste, PhD, Aix-Marseille University, France, and Tayler Sheahan, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, US.
5. A Tribute to Stephen McMahon (26 May 2022)
Featuring David Bennett, MB, PhD, University of Oxford, UK, Gary Lewin, PhD, Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany, Irene Tracey, DPhil, University of Oxford, UK, and Franziska Denk, DPhil, King’s College London, UK.