Research News

Congratulations to Dr. Michael Aziz for a powerful editorial in the British Journal of Anesthesia regarding the Wuhan COVID intubation experience. Some interesting points in the article: 

  • Intubation success rate with video laryngoscope in this population was very high (89% first pass success) 

  • Pneumothorax after intubation is common (5.9%) 

  • Mortality rate after tracheal intubation of critically ill COVID patients was alarmingly high (86%) 

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Andrei Sdrulla for his recent publication in PAIN, the highest impact factor journal in the field of pain research.  

Drs. Fan and Sdrulla implemented multiphoton microscopy of genetically encoded calcium indicators to study how electrical stimulation of Aβ-fibers (Aβ-ES) mediates pain relief.  Aβ-ES is regarded as fundamental to neuromodulation therapies such as transcutaneous, peripheral nerve, and spinal cord stimulation. Drs. Fan and Sdrulla analyzed circuit level activity of excitatory and inhibitory populations, before and after a conditioning train of Aβ-ES, in the superficial dorsal horn of mouse lumbar spinal cord. Aβ-ES induced cell-type-specific effects in these populations that depended on where the stimulation was delivered. In addition to implicating the superficial dorsal horn as an essential target of neuromodulation therapies, this work has some exciting direct translational implications regarding where to stimulate peripheral nerves for optimal pain relief. Of note, this work was done with close interaction and input from Dr. Mary Heinricher, Professor of Neurosurgery, who is Dr. Sdrulla’s mentor on his NINDS K08 grant. In addition, Dr. Sdrulla’s review titled ”Spinal Cord Stimulation: Clinical Efficacy and Potential Mechanisms” published in the journal Pain Practice less than two years ago, is a top read and has become one of the journal’s most cited papers.

Congratulations to Kathleen Beeson, a Neuroscience Graduate Program student in our department, who was awarded OHSU School of Medicine’s 2020 Outstanding Journal Article Award for best paper authored by an OHSU graduate student! Her Journal of Neuroscience paper identifies and mechanistically dissects the central role that the a2d-2 protein plays in controlling synaptic structure and function at a cerebellar synapse.   

Congratulations to assistant professor Laura Villasana who is part of a peer review group made up of NIH-funded BIRCWH (Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health) scholars. The group wrote about their reflections on how COVID-19 has impacted them and the lessons they have learned. Their manuscript was accepted for publication by the Journal of Women’s Health.