Sign in

Donald Iain MacDonald

@dimacd.bsky.social
257 followers 533 following 18 posts

Neuroscience researcher @NIH. Branco Weiss Fellow. Formerly @UZH @UCL @StJohnsOx. Neuropeptides, pain and inflammation. Tha Gàidhlig agam

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Donald Iain MacDonald
Pain Research Forum @painresforum.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
The Pain Research Forum is launching a new monthly Webinar Series. The first event is this Wednesday Jan 14th, 2026 at 12 PM ET. Register using the QR code or visit painresearchforum.org @usasp.bsky.social @dimacd.bsky.social @psalmotoxin.bsky.social @iasp.bsky.social @dimacd.bsky.social
086
Reposted by Donald Iain MacDonald
Douglas Cheape @douglascheape.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Your annual reminder that the most revealing difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is definitely in the words for December: Mí na Nollag (Month of Christmas) in Ireland, and An Dubhlachd (the Blackness) in Scotland. So once again may I wish you all a lovely Blackness.
221394474
Donald Iain MacDonald @dimacd.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Still amazing that a specific language impairment can be mapped to a mendelian single gene mutation. Reading about this discovery of a "language gene" is what first got me interested in biology, genetics and ultimately neuroscience!
160
Donald Iain MacDonald @dimacd.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Enjoyed this gig. Or as they're known in the UK: Maudlin-a Bay...
040
Reposted by Donald Iain MacDonald
Michael Hendricks 🇨🇦 @michaelhendricks.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
"The connectome is like a road map."
ATV catching big air, labelled "neuropeptides."
45612
Donald Iain MacDonald @dimacd.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Really enjoyed this great book telling the story (and experiments) behind our understanding of the hypothalamus, neuron coding, and 'wireless' neurochemical signaling (oxytocin, prolactin etc)... mitpress.mit.edu/978026255193...
060
Donald Iain MacDonald @dimacd.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Some very nice 50 year old immunostaining that showed for the first time that Substance P was in sensory neurons and their central terminals. Only three pictures, published in Science! www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...
0142
Reposted by Donald Iain MacDonald
eLife @elife.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Turns out, two of pain’s most famous messengers — Substance P and CGRPα — might not be so essential after all. Mice missing both still felt pain just fine, challenging decades of assumptions about how pain signals travel. buff.ly/ypISrtx
different coloured mice on a white background
18132
Reposted by Donald Iain MacDonald
Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · 20/04/2025
In science, we don’t give negative data nearly enough love. Showing with genetic precision that CGRP and Substance P aren’t needed for different kinds of acute and chronic pain? That’s huge.
1467
Donald Iain MacDonald @dimacd.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
I'm shook!! www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
medrxiv.org
Carriers of SCN9A variants linked to inherited and acquired pain syndromes show no alteration in the prevalence of pain or analgesic usage in the UK Biobank cohort
The voltage-gated sodium channel NaV1.7, encoded by the SCN9A gene, is integral to nociceptor excitability and pain sensation. Multiple gain-of-function SCN9A variants have been reported to cause auto...
041
Reposted by Donald Iain MacDonald
Stéphanie C Koch @skochlab.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Come join our lab as Postdoctoral Fellow! The project will investigate the maturation of spinal circuits and their plasticity within chronic widespread pain states. Apply here: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/... until 11th April. @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @uclnpp.bsky.social @jobrxiv.bsky.social
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
0815
Reposted by Donald Iain MacDonald
MargolisLab @margolislabnyu.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
This study challenges traditional views of pain biology by showing that deleting Substance P and CGRPα does not affect acute or chronic pain in mice, underscoring the complexity of finding effective pain targets. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Pain persists in mice lacking both Substance P and CGRPα signaling
The neuropeptides Substance P and CGRPα have long been thought important for pain sensation. Both peptides and their receptors are expressed at high levels in pain-responsive neurons from the peripher...
171