SLU Institute for Translational Neuroscience

Tomorrow is the day - We hope to see you there! 4th Annual Research Symposium.

The 2025 St. Louis Translational Pain Research Forum Brought Together Top Pain Scientists and Trainees from Across the Midwest

The 2025 St. Louis Translational Pain Research Forum, held September 26–27, 2025, was a resounding success, featuring 2 plenary speakers, 13 invited talks, 71 poster presentations, and over 200 participants from the Midwest and beyond. Speakers represented institutions including Saint Louis University, Washington University, University of Kansas Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, University of Pittsburgh, Medical College of Wisconsin, Indiana University, and MD Anderson.

Founded in 2023 by Dr. Daniela Salvemini (Department of Pharmacology and Physiology), the Forum is a partnership between the Institute of Translational Neuroscience at Saint Louis University, the Washington University Pain Center and the Center for Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University.

With a strong emphasis on trainee engagement, mentorship, and career development, the event is helping shape the next generation of pain researchers while fostering cross-institutional collaborations across the Midwest and beyond

John Walker (Pharm/Phys, Chemistry) is a co-author on Aysegul Saral Sariyer (U. Oklahoma) et al "Mutations in the proximal binding site and F-loop of AdeJ confer resistance to efflux pump inhibitors" in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Mutations in the proximal binding site and F-loop of AdeJ confer resistance to efflux pump inhibitors | Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic, gram-negative bacterium that can cause severe infections in humans that are challenging to cure. The prevalence of A. baumannii infections has been rising annually, and it is widely recognized as a leading source of nosocomial infections. A. baumannii is....

On May 19 the PPY department toasted and wished a fond farewell to Drs. John Chrivia, Mark Kneupfer and Gina Yosten.

For the 2025 Neuroday event this year, we are holding a tee shirt competition for the TRAINEES-

Very simple instructions-
1) Design an original image that represents Neuroscience to you
2) Keep the image size no bigger than 10x10 inches and it has to be vectored artwork, (It will go on the front of the shirt with our ITN logo)
***These will be judged by a secret committee and the winner will be notified
***If you are the winner, it will be printed on a tee shirt and available for the first 50 people that register for the event!

*****DEADLINE: Friday, September 12 by 12pm*****

PPY received the NOA (5T32GM141602-04) for the T32 grant!
The trainees for the 2025-2026 year will be:
Hanna Bradley, (Arnatt Lab)
Isaac Readnour, (Walker Lab)
Andy Rocca, (Navia Palaez lab)
Rebecca Sheetz, (Garg Lab)
Erin Vest, (Francois-Moutal Lab)

Luigino Antonio Giancotti, Silvia Squillace, Zhomou Chen, Filomena Lauro, Ying Li, and Daniela Salvemini published "Ozanimod, a functional sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 antagonist, restores brainstem descending pain pathways in murine models of neuropathic pain" in Pain.

Ozanimod, a functional sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1... : PAIN reverses behavioral hypersensitivities in male rodents induced by chronic sciatic nerve constriction and chemotherapy (oxaliplatin and paclitaxel). Moreover, bilateral ozanimod injection in the rostral ventral medulla (RVM) reversed behavioral hypersensitivities in a time-dependent manner, evincing....

Welcome New ITN Members: Dr. Rawan Tarwaneh, MD, Neurologist. Dr. Rawan Tarawneh is a distinguished Neurologist. Dr. Tarawneh specializes in diagnosing, treating, and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system. With expertise in handling complex conditions like epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and migraines, Dr. Tarawneh employs advanced techniques and personalized treatment plans to improve patient outcomes. As a neurologist, Dr. Tarawneh is committed to staying abreast of the latest developments in neurological research and therapies. She is a board-certified neurologist with UCNS- certification in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. Dr Tarawneh completed her neurology residency and a combined clinical and post-doctoral research fellowship at the Knight-Washington University in St Louis Alzheimer Disease Research Center. Her NIH-funded research utilizes state-of-the-art proteomic and genomic methods to identify novel biomarkers and drug targets for Alzheimer disease and related dementias. Dr Tarawneh’s pioneering work has been fundamental in identifying visinin-like protein-1, neurogranin, and vascular endothelial-cadherin as novel markers of neuronal, synaptic, and endothelial injury, respectively, in AD. As a national leader in ADRD biomarker research, Dr Tarawneh has led several clinical trials in aging and dementia. Her highly cited research in ADRD biomarkers has been published in prestigious journals and featured in national and international conferences.

September 26-27: St. Louis Translational Pain Research Forum, Have you registered for our upcoming event? Registration ends on 9/5! This deadline also goes for the Poster submissions and we only have 40 spots available ---sign up now! Registration is REQUIRED and you have to also submit your poster submission as well to present.

Join us for our next ITN Monthly Meeting: 9/12

Welcome New ITN Members: Emily Casanova, PhD, Assistant professor, neurology, Department of Psychiatry. Emily Casanova is a scientist passionate about her work and the communities she studies. While she has a background in wet lab research working with genetic animal models, in her postdoctoral training, she moved into clinical and data science. In her dry lab, she uses bioinformatics to address key questions about clinical paleogenomics, including the ways in which Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA may influence susceptibility. In her clinical lab, she studies the overlap of autism and hereditary connective tissue disorders like Ehlers-Danlos syndromes. Finally, she studies the evolution of developmental and neural genes in relation to macroevolutionary patterns such as punctuated equilibria. She also aims to assist in teaching graduate students as well as some teaching on the main campus and is excited to meet the science community. She comes from Loyola University New Orleans. She blogs and maintains an active autism-related science Tiktok.