Ewan St. John Smith
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psalmotoxin.bsky.social
Ewan St. John Smith
@psalmotoxin.bsky.social
👨🏻‍🔬& 👨🏻‍🏫🏳️‍🌈Neuroscientist in Cambridge UK interested in the neurobiology of pain and everything to do with naked mole-rats. 🏃🏻‍♂️, 📖 & 🤘
Was a fun & collaborative article to write, hopefully interesting to the reader as well!
Have you been wondering what the role is of non-neuronal cells in modulating sensory neuron activity? Check out this review from @psalmotoxin.bsky.social et al. in @sfnjournals.bsky.social’s #JNeurosci, one of this week’s #EditorsPick papers chosen by @rpseal.bsky.social bit.ly/3XEp2rE #PRF
November 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
Huerta et al. find that standard analgesics reliably reduce spontaneous neuropathic pain in preclinical models, mirroring clinical efficacy and highlighting the value of assessing non-evoked pain. Learn more in #PAIN bit.ly/4hHOvJU
November 25, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Crisp & sunny start to the day: 🏃🏻‍♂️ = ✅
November 26, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
🚀 NAPS applications open this week!

The North American Pain School (@napainschool.bsky.social) brings together leading experts in #PainResearch for an immersive #SummerSchool training and networking experience in Québec.

📍 Apply Nov 28–Jan 31

👉 northamericanpainschool.com/registration/
November 25, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
Have you heard who the speakers of the distinguished Keynote Prize Lectures will be for #IASP2026? Check out @iasp.bsky.social President Andrew Rice’s announcement on #PRF to find out now bit.ly/47ZGkWt
November 25, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
Have you heard of MDFIC2, the newly identified sensory neuron-enriched modulator of PIEZO channels? Check out Habib et al. in @pnas.org, one of this week’s #EditorsPick papers chosen by @rpseal.bsky.social bit.ly/4renN08 #PRF
November 24, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Bleak, blustery, & a little damp, but 🏃🏻‍♂️ = ✅
November 23, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
Big new paper from us published yesterday: The synaptic ectokinase VLK triggers the EphB2–NMDAR interaction to drive injury-induced pain
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Led by @hajisciencebaji.bsky.social in my lab and a wonderful collaboration with Matthew Dalva's lab at Tulane
The synaptic ectokinase VLK triggers the EphB2–NMDAR interaction to drive injury-induced pain
Phosphorylation of hundreds of protein extracellular domains is mediated by two kinase families but the functional role of these kinases is underexplored. We find that the presynaptic release of the t...
www.science.org
November 21, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Happy #Caturday 😺😺😺
November 22, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Bit later than anticipated, courtesy of a 4-hour transfer delay in Chicago, not much sleep = not much energy, but Friday short 🏃🏻‍♂️ = ✅
November 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
Pretty exciting to develop simpler, faster ways to target specific neuronal subtypes 🤩 I'm looking forward to seeing this be expanded and integrated in future pain studies ☄️ #PainResearch #Neuroscience #DRG #FACS
November 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Great time at @sfn.org meeting, catching up with old friends & making new ones 😊

Great to have got positive feedback on our symposium & @interlukein.bsky.social / @mayadannawi.bsky.social had lots of interest in their posters 😃

✈️ tomorrow with lots of ideas...just got to get 💷 to support them!
November 20, 2025 at 1:31 AM
At 13:00 our @phar.cam.ac.uk lab will be live @sfn.org!

Poster N3 sees @mayadannawi.bsky.social presenting on overexpression of Prdm12 in the adult sensory nervous system

Poster O6 sees @interlukein.bsky.social presenting on loss of Piezo2 in colonic sensory neurons with age

Please drop on by 😃
November 19, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Last San Diego ☀️ 🏃🏻‍♂️ = ✅
November 19, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
Spread the word!! Our amazing EPLS programme is open for applications! @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social
🔬 Experience Research Life at Cambridge!

Applications are now open for the 2026 Experience Postgrad Life Sciences Programme. Gain hands-on lab experience with an 8-week summer placement, in partnership with @corpuscambridge.bsky.social!

🔗 www.exppg.lifesci.cam.ac.uk

#SummerPlacement #Cambridge
November 17, 2025 at 8:04 PM
San Diego sparkling in the sun & 🏃🏻‍♂️ = ✅
November 17, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Had a great time at our @sfn.org #PainResearch symposium yesterday, talks covering a whole range of pain states & roles of non-neuronal cells, review article for more reading: www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4... Thanks to @cherylstucky.bsky.social, @mdburton.bsky.social & Anne-Marie Heegaard!
November 16, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Interesting @sfn.org session kicking off: “What’s in a name? Define the boundaries of neuronal cell types”.

Introduced by @vabraira.bsky.social who provided a background on her name, engaging way to emphasise the importance of names. Talks from
Jeremy Miller & @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social
November 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Swapped wet & windy Cambridge for wet & windy (& warmer!) San Diego, which definitely has bigger boats than Cambridge 😅

Pre-symposium warm up 🏃🏻‍♂️ = ✅: if you’re at @sfn.org & want to know more about pain, come along this afternoon 👇
November 15, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Very wet & windy this morning, & extra early start as 🚕, 🚊, 🚇, ✈️ & San Diego / @sfn.org await, but 🏃🏻‍♂️ = ✅
November 14, 2025 at 6:38 AM
With the annual @sfn.org meeting coming up, I'm looking forward to Saturday's symposium with @cherylstucky.bsky.social , @mdburton.bsky.social & Anne-Marie Heegaard on non-neuronal cells in #PainResearch

Here's our accompanying review!
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
November 12, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Wet, windy, & lots of puddle hopping required, but 🏃🏻‍♂️ = ✅
November 12, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
Here's the lineup of #sfn25 artist exhibitors all on one page
SfN 2025 Art of Neuroscience
Full list of Exhibitors
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
Submit your Painhack project for the 2026 World Congress on Pain in Bangkok, Thailand. During the Painhack, interdisciplinary teams will collaborate to develop new ideas and methods to address key challenges in pain research and management. Submission Deadline: 21 November. bit.ly/4nB9tM7
November 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Ewan St. John Smith
How did Zhou et al. monitor the temporal profiling of lipid mediators in the synovium and tibial plateau during joint inflammation🧐? Learn out this work in this month's #EditorsChoice paper for #Basic #Science.
🔗
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 10, 2025 at 12:39 PM