Painful Inequality?

For the first time, researchers have used RNA sequencing to demonstrate key differences in chronic pain manifestation between men and women, driving a major rethink about the molecular mechanisms at play (1, 2, 3)

Theodore Price, Eugene McDermott Professor of Neuroscience at The University of Texas, is one of the lead researchers involved in the study, which pioneers the use of human dorsal root ganglion (DRG) samples – a major shift for the field. “There are limitations to traditional animal models for these kinds of studies,” he says. “Our new paper has driven a large foray into molecular neuro-biology in patient samples. It’s really been enabled by the RNA sequencing revolution in biology, which has been extraordinarily informative in our work.”