Zerina Kurtovic

In collaboration with Nora Bourbia @ukhsa.bsky.social we have a fully funded (UK/home fees) PhD studentship available @phar.cam.ac.uk:

"Radiotherapy induced nerve damage and pain: can we prevent it?"

Naked mole-rats will be involved!

Oh yes she did!

Nancy Hopkins & other female scientists at MIT experienced sexism. One night in 1994, she carefully went into each lab WITH A TAPE MEASURE & calculated the area. It turned out that even a JUNIOR faculty member had more sq footage. MIT admitted fault.

🧪 news.mit.edu/2023/measuri...

We can finally share our latest findings and technical advances in the human DRG.

For those who want to get the most from staining the human tissue, we are happy to share our last preprint! 🔬

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

Exciting science in a genuinely supportive lab ⬇️

Neutrophil-neuronal crosstalk drives arthritis-induced pain Pain in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often persists despite effective control of inflammation, suggesting distinct mechanisms driving nociception. In both patients and animal models, pain severity does n...

Excited to finally share this story with you! We generated a temporal atlas of the joint-DRG axis during arthritis-induced pain to probe neuroimmune interactions. This revealed OSM and SEMA4D as mediators of neutrophil-neuronal signaling. Many thanks to all coauthors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Why we have to continue with animal testing for medical research | Letters Letters: Dr Robin Lovell-Badge and Prof Emma Robinson respond to an editorial on using new technologies to reduce the reliance on animal experiments

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

A novel method to sort and enrich sensory neurons Peripheral sensory neurons, residing in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), relay sensory information from the periphery to the central nervous system. Although single-cell transcriptomic studies have iden...

Want to flow-analyze or FACS your sensory neurons without relying on reporter mice? Check out our new short report 👇https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.19.688847v1

”As our approach in this process is a holistic one, we have everything in place to make sure that a researcher’s decision to come to KI and Sweden is the best they’ve ever made” ♥️

Not long after I started my lab, a prominent scientist told me it was “impossible” to be a successful PI and a mother

Don’t ever let the naysayers tell you it can’t be done - of course it can!

#HappyMothersDay this weekend to all the amazing scientist mamas raising their wonderful kids 🥰

Grant for recruiting international visiting researcher to Sweden The purpose of the grant is to provide higher education institutions and other research organisations the opportunity to develop and strengthen a research field by recruiting a distinguished researche...

Are you an established (”distinguished”) researcher outside Europe? Thinking of moving here for some reason? Grant opportunity just dropped: www.vr.se/english/appl...

Abstract Submission Open!!

As we slide into the weekend, it's the ideal time to think about your abstract for #EMDS2025. Lots of opportunities for #ECRs to present...and prizes up for grabs!

👉 www.emds2025.com

@britsocimm.bsky.social @cytokinesociety.bsky.social @societymucosalimm.bsky.social

Nociceptor neurons promote PDAC progression and cancer pain by interaction with cancer-associated fibroblasts and suppression of natural killer cells - Cell Research Cell Research - Nociceptor neurons promote PDAC progression and cancer pain by interaction with cancer-associated fibroblasts and suppression of natural killer cells

Nociceptor neurons promote PDAC progression and cancer pain by interaction with cancer-associated fibroblasts and suppression of NK cells
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Single-cell profiling of the human endometrium in polycystic ovary syndrome - Nature Medicine A transcriptomic atlas of the endometrium of women with polycystic ovary syndrome uncovers both disease signatures and potential therapeutic targets.

My dear colleague Gustaw Eriksson has just published a comprehensive cellular atlas of the endometrium in women with PCOS, showing cell-type-specific disease signatures. This reveals new promising therapeutic targets for PCOS-related endometrial dysfunction.

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

Matrix-producing neutrophils populate and shield the skin Nature - A population of neutrophils in the skin produces extracellular matrix, providing a defence strategy by reinforcing the barrier properties of the skin and helping to block the entry of...

Excited to post for the first time to present our exciting new paper @Nature. The fruit of massive work by Tommaso Vicanolo, @alazozcan.bsky.social and Jackson Li, and our superb collaborators Laiguan and Stefan Uderhardt. True teamwork!
Free link: rdcu.be/eeeA2
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Review
Pain signaling by G protein-coupled receptors and receptor tyrosine kinases
www.cell.com/trends/pharm...

Who funds biomedical research? @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Yesterday, Sven from our lab shared his beautiful immunos of human DRG at our department seminar @ki.se 🤩 Here’s a snap!

The peripheral neuroimmune system The peripheral neuroimmune reflex arc illustrates how immune cells can simultaneously respond to both motor and sensory nerves but also transmit signals to

The new and emerging field of peripheral neuroimmunology is revealing how unique interactions between neurons and immune cells in various organs can profoundly impact mammalian health.

Nice review in JLB.

The peripheral neuroimmune system

academic.oup.com/jleukbio/art...

🚨 Paper Announcement🎉 🥂
Read about our fascinating discoveries around the pain-relieving effect of the JAK inhibitor baricitinib in an arthritis context !
Our pre-clinical study highlights exciting findings and is now available in the prestigious journal ARD: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Europeans strongly support science and technology according to new Eurobarometer survey The latest Eurobarometer survey on ‘European citizens' knowledge and attitudes towards science and technology' released today shows more than 8 in 10 citizens (83%) think that the overall influence of...

What do Europeans think of science and technology?

- 83% believe science and tech have a positive impact,
- 67% say science makes life easier, healthier and more comfortable,
- 58% want to learn more about scientific advances.

Find out more in the new Eurobarometer.
ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Twelve unique stories from the #lab, each illustrated by the amazing Yulia Lapko. For anyone finishing up #school and wondering what to do next - #STEM is a great next step, whatever your start in life.

EPS2022 was one of the best science meetings that I have been to. Great scientific discussion for both junior and senior PhD students!

Many members of our lab are proud alumni of the European Pain School, and we cannot recommend this conference highly enough to all PhD students and postdocs in pain research!

Chronic Pain Afflicts Billions of People. It’s Time for a Revolution. As many as two billion people suffer from it — including me. Can science finally bring us relief?

In-depth article on chronic pain, with my friend @robgereau.bsky.social and Allan Basbaum heavily interviewed as scientists studying pain: ‘We die in pain, we don’t die of pain.’

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/12/m...

AxonFinder: Automated segmentation of tumor innervating neuronal fibers Neurosignaling is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in cancer progression, where neuronal innervation of primary tumors contributes to the disease's advancement. This study focuses on segmenting individual axons within the prostate tumor microenvironment, which have been challenging to detect and analyze due to their irregular morphologies. We present a novel deep learning-based approach for the automated segmentation of axons, AxonFinder, leveraging a U-Net model with a ResNet-101 encoder, based on a multiplexed imaging approach.

Neurosignaling is recognized as a key factor in cancer progression, yet current spatial profiling approaches are unable to detect neuronal innervation in the TME. www.cell.com/heliyon/full...

Beyond classical immunity: Mast cells as signal converters between tissues and neurons Mast cells act as “signal converters,” translating immunological and tissue signals into host-protective behaviors. They sense antigen and possibly toxins driving avoidance behavior, which can prevent inflammation and tissue damage. Beyond classical immunity, mast cells rapidly activate antigen expulsion responses and initiate nociception. These reflexes promote host-protective behavior and maintain tissue integrity.

Beyond classical immunity: Mast cells as signal converters between tissues and neurons: Immunity www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

The science behind winning a Nobel Prize? Being a man from a wealthy family | Torsten Bell A lot of talent is wasted in a world where more than half of laureates come from households in the richest 5%

"If talent and opportunity were equally distributed, the average winner would come from a middle income background.

The reality?

The average laureate grew up in a household just below the top 10%. More than 50% come from the top 5%"

By Torsten Bell

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The oestrous cycle stage affects mammary tumor sensitivity to chemotherapy
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Organ-specific sympathetic innervation defines visceral functions - Nature Multi-modal transcriptomic analyses of the sympathetic nervous system reveal organ-specific neural innervation and modular regulation of visceral functions.

Nature

Organ-specific sympathetic innervation defines visceral functions
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Behind the graduate mental health crisis in science - Nature Biotechnology Survey results identify how scientific research and teaching contribute to the graduate student mental health crisis.

“Negative reinforcement, such as receiving overly harsh criticism or being scolded by a research mentor, and being held to unreasonable expectations were two of the most detrimental aspects of research affecting student mental health.”

#ImprovingAcademia 🧪

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