2022
2021
Promiti Debi has joined the Seal Lab as an undergraduate research assistant! Welcome to the lab Promo!
Daniel Headrick has joined the Seal Lab as an undergraduate research assistant! We are lucky to have you Danny!
Zane Hamdan is starting his Master’s in Computer Science at Drexel University! Congratulations on this new chapter!
Joe Brague is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Scranton! We will all miss you Joe!
Rebecca Seal becomes Chair of the Editorial Board of the Pain Research Forum. Excited about working with everyone to grow PRF and welcome all to participate.
Check out the latest publication from the Seal Lab, A Comparison of the Cellular and Molecular Atlases of the Macaque and Mouse Dorsal Horns here!
The Seal Lab welcomes Bettega Costa Lopes, Ph.D. as a Postdoctoral Scholar studying the macaque dorsal horn. His graduate work was with Dr. Iraci Torres at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Welcome to the lab, Bettega!
Cynthia Arokiaraj successfully defended her Ph.D. on October 15, 2021. We wish her all the best at Caltech in the Gradinaru Lab!
Tulika Malik is leaving our lab-nest to pursue a Ph.D. at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA! We are so proud of you Tulika! We will miss you!
Rijul Amin receives SURA fellowship for the 2021 summer! Keep up the great work, Rijul! We’re lucky to have you.
Tulika Malik completed an Undergraduate Thesis! We are so proud of the hard work and dedication it took to finish this while working towards her Bachelor’s degree. Great job, Tulika!
Zane Hamdan completed an Undergraduate Thesis! He is currently working towards his Bachelor’s degree but still managed this accomplishment. Way to go, Zane!
2020
Seal lab publishes article in Neuron showing that the neural circuitry in the dorsal horn that encodes mechanical allodynia differs by the nature of the injury. You can read it here.
Jonathan Weinhold is awarded Roth Fellowship for his work on CCK signaling in morphine tolerance. Excellent work Jonathan!
Suh Jin (Alex) Lee joins the Seal lab as CNUP/CNBC Graduate Student to study pain circuitry. Welcome Alex!! We’re thrilled to have you.
Becky Seal becomes Scientific Director of a new podcast series, the Pain Beat. Please tune it to listen to discussions on hot topics in the pain field. Available on the Pain Research Forum, iTunes and Spotify.
Becky Seal becomes Reviewing Editor at eLife.
David Ferreira is awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Mechanical and Clinical Presentations of Pain T32. Excellent job David!
2019
Myung-chul (Sam) Noh, PhD joins Seal lab as Postdoctoral Scholar to study pain mechanisms. His graduate work was with Dr. Peter Smith at the University of Alberta, Canada. Welcome Sam!! So happy to have you!
Jonathan Weinhold, Medical Student, University of Pittsburgh joins Seal lab. His Dean’s Summer Research Project looks at the role of CCK signaling in morphine tolerance. Jonathan and David Ferreira make an excellent team!
Lucien Ruelle- Le Glaunec joins as Master’s Student from MD/PhD program, University of Burgundy, France. He studied the role of CCK signaling in mechanical allodynia and morphine analgesia. Lucien and David Ferreira are now RNAscope experts!!
Seal lab is awarded a new R01 from NINDS to study Dorsal Horn Circuits for Mechanical Allodynia. Wonderful news! Thanks to the lab for their strong work!
Seal lab is awarded a renewal R01 from NINDs to study Striatal Plasticity Mechanisms that Preserve Motor Behavior in a model of Parkinson’s Disease. Excellent research conducted by Joe Brague provided the basis for this grant!
Seal lab is awarded a University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute Pilot Grant to study CCK signaling in persistent pain. Excellent work by David Ferreira who now has CCK and CCKBR conditional KO mice for studying all things CCK (pain, sleep, memory, mood, etc).
Becky Seal becomes Associate Editor at Current Research in Physiology. New open access journal is partner with Current Opinions in Physiology both by Elsevier.
Cynthia Arokiaraj is awarded an F31 from NINDS (7/1/2019-6/30/2021) to study cholecystokinin molecular subsets in the mouse and macaque dorsal horn. Congratulations Cynthia! Strong work!
David Ferreira is awarded T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Mechanical and Clinical Presentations of Pain. Congratulations David!
2018
Seal lab awarded R21 from NINDS to study the molecular and functional organization of the dorsal horn in mouse and non-human primate. Excellent work by Cynthia and our collaborators Alex Chamessian (Wash U) and Andreas Pfenning Lab (CMU).
Joe Brague is awarded T32 Postdoctoral Training Fellowship in “Neurobiology of Neurological Disease”. Excellent Job Joe!!
Joe Brague wins “Best Poster Award” at the UPPDA 2018 Postdoctoral Data & Dine Symposium. Outstanding!! Congrats Joe!
Seal lab publishes review on Uncovering the Cells and Circuits of Touch in Normal and Pathological Settings. Moehring, F. Halder P, Seal RP, Stucky CL. Neuron (2018) 100(2) 349-360.
Seal lab contributes to A Critical Role for Dopamine D5 Receptors in Pain Chronicity in Male Mice. Megat, S., S. Shiers, JK Moy, P. Barragan-Iglesias, G. Pradhan, Seal RP, G. Dussor and TJ Price J. Neurosci. (2018) 38(2): 379-397. Download Article
Cynthia Arokiaraj joins the Seal lab as a first year CNUP Graduate Student to study pain circuitry and therapeutics. Welcome Cynthia! So happy to have you join our group!
David Ferreira, PhD joins Seal lab as Postdoctoral Scholar to study cholecystokinin signaling in the dorsal horn. His graduate work was with Dr. Thiago Cunha at Ribeirao Preto Medical School, Brazil and Alfonso Romero-Sandoval now at Wake Forrest. Welcome David! So glad you’ve joined our group!
Joe Brague is awarded a T32 Postdoctoral Training Fellowship: “Training in the Neurobiology of Neurological Disease” . Way to go Joe!!
Joe Brague, PhD joins Seal lab as Postdoctoral Scholar to study basal ganglia circuits. He did his graduate work with Dr. Jennifer Swann at Lehigh University. Welcome Joe! So glad to have you!
Priyabrata Halder, PhD joins Seal lab as Postdoctoral Scholar to study pain circuits. He did his graduate work with Dr. Neeraj Jain at the Brain Research Centre, India. Welcome Priyabrata! Glad you’ve joined us.
Seal lab receives Parkinson’s Disease Focused Idea Award from the Department of Defense (US Army) to study “Mechanisms of Striatal Neuroplasticity that Ameliorate Motor Impairments in Parkinson’s Disease”.
Cynthia Arokiaraj is awarded the T32 Predoctoral Training Fellowship in Mechanical and Clinical Presentations of Pain. Excellent job Cynthia! Way to go!
Dan Case is awarded a CIHR Post-doctoral Fellowship 2017-2020. Outstanding!
Seal lab publishes article on Layer- and Cell type-Selective Co-transmission by a Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Projection to the Olfactory Bulb. Case DT, Burton SD, Gedeon JY, Williams S-PG, Urban NN, Seal RP. Nat Comm (2017) 8:652. Download Article
2017
Seal lab is awarded a University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute NeuroDiscovery Pilot grant to study “Striatal Plasticity underlying Rescued Motor Behavior in a Model of Parkinson’s Disease”.
Seal lab publishes Review on Neural Pain Circuits: recent advances and current views. Peirs C, Seal RP. Science (2016) 354(6312):578-584. Review. Download Article
2016
Dan Case, PhD joins the Seal lab as Postdoctoral Scholar to study glutamatergic/cholinergic co-transmission. He did his graduate work with Dr. Deda Gillespie at McMaster University, Canada. Welcome Dan!
Seal lab publishes Loss of VGLUT3 Produces Circadian-Dependent Hyperdopaminergia and Ameliorates Motor Dysfunction and l-Dopa-Mediated Dyskinesias in a Model of Parkinson’s Disease. Divito CB, Steece-Collier K, Case DT, Williams SP, Stancati JA, Zhi L, Rubio ME, Sortwell CE, Collier TJ, Sulzer D, Edwards RH, Zhang H, Seal RP. J Neurosci. (2015) 35(45):14983-99. Download Article
Seal lab publishes a preview article on Targeting Toll-like receptors to treat chronic pain. Peirs C, Seal RP. Nat Med. (2015) 21(11):1251-2. Download Article
Seal lab publishes an article on Dorsal Horn Circuits for Persistent Mechanical Pain. Peirs C, Williams SPG, Zhao X, Walsh CE, Gedeon JY, Cagle NE, Goldring AC, Hioki H, Liu Z, Marell PS, Seal RP. Neuron. 87(4):797-812. Download Article
2015
Chris Divito receives a T32 Postdoctoral Training Fellowship from the Department of Psychiatry. Congratulations Chris!
Xinyi Zhao, MD- Tsinghua Medical Student joins the Seal lab for two years to study persistent pain circuits. Welcome Sally!! So glad to have you here!
2014
Cedric Peirs, PhD joins Seal lab as Postdoctoral Scholar to work on pain circuitry. Welcome Cedric! So glad you joined our group!
Chris Divito, PhD joins Seal lab as Postdoctoral Scholar to study basal ganglia circuitry. He did his graduate work with Dr. Susan Amara at the University of Pittsburgh. Welcome Chris! Happy to have you join our group.
Seal lab is awarded a new R01 from NINDS to study the Role of Glutamatergic-Cholinergic Co-release in Forebrain Circuits.
Seal lab is awarded an R21 from NINDS to study the Central Circuits of Peripheral Sensory Neurons.
Becky Seal is chosen as a 2013 Rita Allen Pain Scholar. Funded by the Rita Allen Foundation and the American Pain Society to study mechanical allodynia circuits in the dorsal horn: a role for VGLUT3.
2013
Seal lab receives Innovation Award from the American Diabetes Association to study the role of VGLUT3 in diabetic neuropathic pain.
Seal lab receives award from the Virginia Kaufman Foundation to study the role of VGLUT3 in the pain associated with arthritis and diabetes.
Seal lab receives award from the Competitive Medical Research Fund to study the molecular and anatomical basis of persistent mechanical pain.
Becky Seal is chosen as the 2012 C.H.E.A.R. Endowment Grant Recipient from the Health for Hearing Foundation. Her work will look at the role of the outer hair cell glutamate release in cochlear function and dysfunction.
Seal lab receives a grant from the Pennsylvania Lions Hearing Research Foundation to study glutamate signaling by outer hair cells: cochlear integrity and tinnitus.
2012
2011
Sean Williams joins the Seal lab as Lab Manager. Welcome Sean!