AJ Martin
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ajmartin.one
AJ Martin
@ajmartin.one
72 followers 47 following 33 posts
PhD student and harm reduction advocate @brp.org.uk 💙

Researching neuronal calcium channel regulatory mechanisms: kadurinlab.org 👨‍🎓

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ajmartin.one
Thank you for an amazing week @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social #BPS2025 already missing the sun back in London🥲
Me sat by my poster after a long day of talking about alpha2delta and calcium channels, tired but still smiling!
February 22, 2025 at 1:39 PM
ajmartin.one
Counting down the days to #BPS2025 — my first intl conference and 2nd time leaving Europe ✈️

Stop by my poster for a chat about what our lab’s been discovering about α2δ and CaV channels 🧠

📍West Exhibit Hall, 1:45–3:45 pm Tues 18th Feb

Any fellow PhD students attending, it’d be great to link up!
Screenshot of our poster details from the BPS Events conference app. Title: LB64 - UNCOVERING A NOVEL AUTOINHIBITORY DOMAIN OF α2δ SUBUNITS ESSENTIAL FOR FUNCTIONAL MATURATION OF VOLTAGE-GATED CALCIUM CHANNELS Session : Posters: Voltage-Gated Ca Channels (Late) Location : West Exhibit Hall Date : Tuesday, Feb 18 1:45 pm Duration : 2 hours Authors: Alexander J.L. Martin, Najoua Biba, Hannah J. Lee, Dario S. Linklore, Matthew Day, Annette C. Dolphin, Ivan Kadurin. Authors from Department of Biochemistry, QMUL, and Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL.
February 8, 2025 at 10:09 AM
ajmartin.one
A 2019 report from Loughborough’s Centre for Research in Social Policy found the cost of living to be 15–48% higher in London than the rest of the UK.

This seems to be at least partially driven by rents, taking up at least 40% of Londoners’ salaries vs 29% outside London.
An infographic summary of the 3 key findings from the 2019 report on London cost of living. 4 in 10 Londoners have an income below what is needed for a decent socially acceptable living standard. Up to 58% more expensive to reach a decent standard of living in London than in other urban areas of the UK, thanks to housing, childcare and transport costs. 1/3 of all pensioners in London now have incomes below the Minimum Income Standard, up from 1/4 in 2011.
January 31, 2025 at 11:00 PM
ajmartin.one
In animal studies, pregabalin has been shown to reverse tolerance to opioids like morphine. Lyndon et al. found that morphine-tolerant mice experienced significantly depressed respiration when treated with morphine + pregabalin.
Figure 4C, from Lyndon et al., Addiction. 2017 September ; 112(9): 1580–1589. doi:10.1111/add.13843. AUC analysis of the data in A & B [see ref 18] indicated that in morphine pretreated mice pregabalin + morphine induced significantly greater depression of respiration than morphine alone (P<0.05). N = 6 in each case.
January 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
ajmartin.one
First, what is pregabalin?💊

Pregabalin is a drug from the gabapentinoid class: used to treat neuropathic pain, epilepsy, and anxiety.

The gabapentinoids were designed to mimic GABA — the brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter (i.e., slows brain signals).
The chemical structures of GABA, compared to gabapentin and pregabalin. Source: Patel and Dickenson, Mechanisms of the gabapentinoids and α2δ-1 calcium channel subunit in neuropathic pain. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives, 4:2 (2016). DOI:10.1002/prp2.205
January 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
ajmartin.one
ONS have reported that pregabalin-related mortalities in England and Wales have risen from 0 in 2008, to 549 in 2023.

So, why are pregabalin-related deaths increasing in the UK?

I've wanted to dig into this question for a while, as it brings together my PhD #neuroskyence and #harmreduction worlds🧵
A chart showing specific drug-related poisonings in England and Wales between 1993–2023. The green line denotes pregabalin-related deaths, which climb from zero in 2008, 33 in 2013, and 549 in 2023. Comparing this to other common non-opiate drugs, we see that pregabalin-related deaths over the past decade have been consistently higher than MDMA/Ecstasy (blue), have recently surpassed benzodiazepine-related deaths (orange), and have climbed at a similar pace to deaths relating to cocaine (yellow). Data source: Office for National Statistics, Deaths Related to Drug Poisoning in England and Wales: 2023 Registrations (2024).
January 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
ajmartin.one
VLC is top tier
January 11, 2025 at 11:15 AM