David Seminowicz

Check out our latest paper:

The Contribution of endocannabinoids to placebo analgesia

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

This is an ongoing collaboration with David Finn & @laurenatlas.bsky.social

Take away: beta-endorphins gate the contributions of endocannabinoids to placebo analgesia.

We love it when innovative collaborators challenge @cfmm.bsky.social staff with cool projects. At our imaging centre, we now have open source solutions for MRI in awake mice, rats and marmosets…and humans!

Nothing like Chili to spice up a 🇨🇦 winter.

New paper in Nature Neuroscience! We developed personalized fMRI-based predictive models tracking ongoing spontaneous pain in chronic pain patients—trained on 6+ months of densely sampled data. A true team effort. Deeply grateful to our participants! doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02221-3

Ultrasound gives our brain a nudge in the right direction 🧠

👀 Look to your left, look to your right!

We used #ultrasound to stimulate the brain and it changed human choice behavior within a fraction of a second. No surgery, no implants.

Link to paper ⬇️

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

doesn't happen often

I presented my first poster in the Neuroscience Research Day 2026!
While I was preparing it, I discovered a new type of poster design by @mikemorrison.bsky.social. I didn't like it at first, but then was intrigued on its ability to generate more interaction. Results? I was talking the whole hour!

Are you curious about the relationship between pain and alcohol use? Register now for our next #PRF webinar on 10 March from #PRF, featuring @zalephd.bsky.social, Dr. Lucía Hipólito-Cubedo, and Dr. Thomas Kash bit.ly/4rQzqdb

Alpha power distinguishes conditioned pain modulation subgroups. @karenddavis.bsky.social et al. find that associations between peak alpha frequency and inhibitory conditioned pain modulation strengths are sex- and paradigm-dependent in the sgACC #PAIN bit.ly/3Zk0F3q

Our next Meet the Team Talk is happening tomorrow from 12-1pm, with Dr. Dwight Moulin as the speaker! To join, click on the Zoom link on our website! www.knowpain.ca/eventschedule

could you add a question on pain? strongly related to sleep/circadian rhythm, cognition, mobility, affect, etc, and likely to dementia (studies emerging)

There are many things that are excellent about this paper but my favorite is that every hDRG neuron seems to have its own capillary. We have had this impression but this paper really nails it in my view.

it’s so hard to tackle the pain topic in simple terms, it is such a congruent and integrated system that manages and links to the very essence of existence, or the will to do so.
it is even efficient and secure, like a meticulously designed fire alarm system. from wiring to response. very elegant

finally some real data on this. nicely done. love the phantom.

This is why I chose to do medical research into neuropathic pain. The red line in the picture on the left is the approximate height my mother was in her prime. The picture on the right is an MRI of her spine. The vertebrae in the lower circle is L1; the radiologist note was 'dislocated spine.'

great idea! looking forward to seeing what you discuss

YouTube video by Professor Meeker's Science Ruins Everything An Introduction to Professor Meeker's Science Ruins Evertything!

So I started a YouTube channel titled Professor Meeker's Science Ruins Everything:
youtu.be/nxTMRGaOmMQ?...

Join us at the kNOw-PAIN Conference on March 26th! This one-day conference will feature engaging talks, fascinating speakers + networking opportunities in the dynamic and complex field of pain research, patient care +more. Stay tuned for more info.

Register here: www.knowpain.ca/2026conference

saw some great pain science at yesterday's UofT Pain day including talks by @sarahnelsonphd.bsky.social @ghasemloulab.bsky.social @drmarianabueno.bsky.social Burel Goodin and incredible trainee talks. pain research is thriving in Toronto.

utcsp.utoronto.ca

views from the office today at Western's new downtown Toronto space

Positive bold is red
Negative is blue
But that all depends
On cmro2

Ok I'll leave the poetry to ravi

Sex-dependent changes in insular cortex connectivity in a rat model of comorbid pain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704080v1

This is a catastrophic unforced error.

It was quite something to hear @ohsunews.bsky.social President Shereef Elnahal equate the shambolic lies of fringe groups (“others”) with the heartfelt & credible testimony of the scientists & veterinarians in his employ.

“Teammates” don’t support rivals.

A mesoscale optogenetics system for precise and robust stimulation of the primate cortex Li et al. present a microLED-based mesoscale optogenetic system for centimeter-scale, million-pixel primate cortical stimulation. Optogenetically evoked saccades with accurate retinotopic organization...

Optogenetics so powerful it can relocate the primary visual cortex! www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

MEG meets fMRI!

Quantum Sensing MRI for Noninvasive Detection of Neuronal Electrical Activity in Human Brains

arxiv.org/abs/2601.16423

we've got an outstanding lineup this year. join us!

Be sure to cast your vote for the next President-Elect of the @canadianpain.bsky.social!

Our latest preprint. More evidence that diabetic neuropathy is a neuro degenerative disease. Very proud of @ish1789.bsky.social and our whole PRECISION group who made this work possible. #HEALinitiative funded

just tried a simple prompt to write a letter expressing interest in working in my lab. the result was strikingly similar to the suddenly enormous number of requests I've been receiving

I can usually detect and ignore those ones. but the sheer volume is obscuring the students with genuine interest

I don't know if this was well known, but NMR/MRS icon and NAS fellow Bob Shulman (middle) passed away a couple of weeks ago at the age of 101. He was the mentor of my mentors (left and right), so I suppose my grand mentor. Scientists like him are unlikely to be found ever again in this day and age