Guest Editors
Aakanksha Jain
Boston Children’s Hospital
Dr. Aakanksha Jain earned her PhD in Immunology from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2019. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Clifford J. Woolf at Boston Children’s Hospital where her research is focused on delineating the neuroimmune mechanisms of inflammatory pain and hypersensitivity.
David Yarmolinsky
Boston Children's Hospital
Dr. Yarmolinsky has studied the neurobiology of sensory systems at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, University of California, San Diego, and at Columbia University, where he received a PhD in Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow in Clifford Woolf's laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital investigating mechanisms of plasticity in the mammalian somatosensory system.
Collection Overview
The mammalian somatosensory system underlies the perception of touch, temperature, itching, and body position. Disruptions of this system result in debilitating sensory disorders, such as chronic pain. Studies in the genetically tractable mouse model have begun to reveal the molecular basis of somatosensory transduction, as recognized by the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Characterization of somatosensory neurons, circuits, and behaviors in mice poses a unique set of challenges that call for innovative application of novel approaches including in vitro models, neurophotonics, and computational ethology. The aim of this Methods Collection is to summarize recent advances in techniques to probe the function of the mammalian somatosensory system in both healthy and disease states.
Articles
Abstracts
Sciatic Neuroma Rodent Model: Surgery, Behavioral Testing, and Tissue Processing
Ben Johnston*1
1Brigham & Women's Hospital