Diana Tavares Ferreira

Very happy to share that the work from my PhD is in press at PAIN 😊

A Reference Atlas of the Human Dorsal Root Ganglion Somatosensory perception largely emerges from diverse peripheral sensory neurons whose cell bodies reside in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Damage or dysfunction of DRG neurons is a major cause of chronic...

The BIG DRG paper is now up on @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... so many people worked so hard to make this happen. Props to the whole PRECISION Human Pain Network.

A test of nerves in diabetic peripheral neuropathy

@dianatavf.bsky.social @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social & team identify regenerative and degenerative pathways and highlight axonal mRNA transport as a new mechanism in DPN:
www.jci.org/articles/vie...

Video of Diana Tavares-Ferreira discussing peripheral nerve damage and diabetes.

We are highlighting a new paper by @dianatavf.bsky.social published in @jclinical-invest.bsky.social. In this paper, they reveal how peripheral nerves shift towards inflammatory phenotypes in DPN.

🔬 Read the full study: utd.link/3df
📊 Explore the data: utd.link/3dg

Gut microbiota and metabolites drive chronic sickle cell disease pain in mice Brandow et al. describe how the gut microbiome drives chronic sickle cell disease (SCD) pain. SCD guts contain excessive heme catabolites, fewer bacteria that metabolize bilirubin, and low levels of A...

1st paper from Sadler Lab is out!! Highlights: 1) A. muciniphila reverses sickle cell (SCD) pain, 2) fecal transplant from SCD mice induces pain via bilirubin-TRPM2 vagal signaling, 3) BilR+ bacteria less abundant in SCD patient poo, 4) RNAseq on HUMAN nodose ganglia! www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Infographic titled "From Lab To Life: How Diabetes Rewires the Peripheral Nervous System – And what that means for treatment?" It is divided into four sections. The first section, "The Challenge," explains that about 50% of diabetes patients develop diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), which causes pain, numbness, and disability, and highlights the lack of understanding of nerve degeneration. The second section, "What they did?" describes how researchers collected human tibial and sural nerves and used spatial transcriptomics to map gene activity and track inflammation and mRNA transport. The third section, "What they found?" reports increased inflammation markers (IL6, IL1B, CXCL2) and fibrosis markers (TGF-B, Tenascin) in DPN nerves. The final section, "Why it matters?" emphasizes the potential for early intervention to prevent fibrosis and axonal loss, moving toward personalized care. Visuals include a leg with pain indicators and a nerve illustration showing inflammation. The study is credited to Tavares-Ferreira et al., J Clin Invest, 2025, with a DOI link.

🧠From Lab To Life
Why do peripheral nerves suffer axonal loss in diabetes?

A study led by @dianatavf.bsky.social from the @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social lab showed how inflammation leads to neural fibrosis in diabetic peripheral neuropathy! #PainResearch #Neuroskyence #FromLabToLife 1/

Thank you to the patients and organ donors, collaborators and everyone that contributed to this study! @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social @julietmwirigi.bsky.social @ish1789.bsky.social @utdpaincenter.bsky.social

Together, these insights highlight that while immune activation and fibrosis drive degeneration, there are also regenerative signals that could be therapeutically targeted early to preserve nerve health in DPN.

Key findings:
-In DPN, nerves shift toward inflammatory states.
-Sensory vs. mixed nerves respond differently.
-Progression from perineurial disruption → immune infiltration → fibrosis.
-mRNAs localize to axons, supporting RNA transport in nerve integrity.

This work is finally online as in-press preview!

JCI - Cell and molecular profiles in peripheral nerves shift toward inflammatory phenotypes in diabetic peripheral neuropathy www.jci.org/articles/vie...

Thank you Ted for your support!!

Super excited for this work to be out soon!

A woman in a white lab coat stands against a white background. Her face is obscured. Above her, the text reads 'CAPS | Grants.' Below this, the text states 'Merkin Center Research Grant Recipient' followed by 'Diana Tavares-Ferreira, PhD.' The description below reads: 'Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common and debilitating complication of diabetes, caused by changes in the distal axons of sensory neurons. This project aims to investigate how disruptions in mRNA transport within peripheral nerves contribute to axonal degeneration in DPN, with the goal of uncovering insights that could lead to personalized treatments.' At the bottom right corner are images of two cats labeled as 'Lab Mascots' with names Nala and Max.

🎉 Thrilled to announce that Diana Tavares-Ferreira, PhD, was awarded a grant from the Merkin Peripheral Neuropathy and Nerve Regeneration Center. This grant supports her research into how disruptions in messenger RNA transport within peripheral nerves contribute to nerve degeneration. 🎉

The NIH’s new imposed standard indirect cost rate threatens life-saving brain & behavior research that benefits millions of Americans. SfN, with other scientific organizations,urge reversal of this policy & implore Congress to protect critical research infrastructure.

Full statement: bit.ly/4jVJnCL

Sign the Petition Petition to Reverse the NIH Indirect Cost Cap (NOT-OD-25-068)

Petition to Reverse the NIH Indirect Cost Cap initiated by Tom Maniatis. Please amplify
Sign the Petition: chng.it/kK2HMP5pGk
"Share with Leadership & Faculty. Reach out to professional societies, biotech and pharma leaders, and philanthropic organizations to raise awareness and mobilize support."

Here are some facts about "facilities and administrative" (F&A) costs, what we in the business call "indirects" and what Musk is calling "overhead" as he tries to convince Americans with being ok with cutting billions on dollars from medical and public health research at universities & hospitals

1/

Scientific advancements aside, this is economically irresponsible

Every $1 spent by NIH generates $2.46

For example, in 2023, $47B in NIH spending generated ~$93B

Halting NIH spending will LOSE the US a lot of money (and talent)

Pain Scientist Earns Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship Juliet Mwirigi BS’18, PhD’23, who specializes in pain studies, has been selected for a Hanna H. Gray Fellowship. Each of the 25 fellows receives up to $1.5 million in funding over eight years. After a...

Another great story on @julietmwirigi.bsky.social Juliet Mwirigi's HHMI Hanna Gray Award: news.utdallas.edu/alumni/howar... We are so proud of you Juliet!

Today we're thrilled to announce our 2024 #HannaGrayFellows! Please join us in welcoming and celebrating these outstanding early career scientists!

Spatial Proteomics is the Method of the Year 2024!

The 25 days of chRistmas: an R advent calendaR Thank you for your interest in this advent calendar and learning R! R is a powerful tool for data analysis and visualization. At first, it can be really overwhelming, but after you pick up the basics,...

It's Dec 1 and you want to finally start learning R? The R advent calendaR by @kiirsti.bsky.social is an excellent place to start. Do it now! #rstats kiirstio.wixsite.com/kowen/post/t...

Jon Stewart’s Election Night Takeaway | The Daily Show YouTube video by The Daily Show

Jon Stewart’s Election Night Takeaway #DailyShow

youtu.be/XLiagIdA84c

Identifying alterations in hand movement coordination from chronic stroke survivors using a wearable high-density EMG sleeve https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.02.24300714v1 Non-invasive, high-density electromyography (HD-EMG) has emerged as a useful tool to collect a range

Identifying alterations in hand movement coordination from chronic stroke survivors using a wearable high-density EMG sleeve https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.02.24300714v1

Multi-pass, single-molecule nanopore reading of long protein strands with single-amino acid sensitiv... bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

The hacked the @nanopore sequencer to read amino acids and PTMs along protein strands. This opens up the possibility for barcode sequencing at the protein level for highly multiplexed assays, PTM monitoring, and protein identification 🧬🧪🤯
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...