Author Archives: Gabriel Piña, MD

Epidemics of pain and opioid abuse underscore the need for new nonopioid therapeutics to treat pain. Many nonopioid receptors are involved in pain processing (nociception), but only a few have been validated therapeutically. Of particular interest is the α2A-adrenergic receptor (α2AAR), a G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) whose activation in the central nervous system has pain-relieving […]

Neurons that sense pain protect the gut from inflammation and associated tissue damage by regulating the microbial community living in the intestines, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The researchers, whose report appears Oct. 14 in Cell, found in a preclinical model that pain-sensing neurons in the gut secrete a molecule […]

Each year, 700,000 people die due to antibiotic resistance. A growing global population unfortunately generates a growing resistance to established antibiotic treatments , a threat that has been met with insufficient funding and dwindling inspiration, as commercial incentives for developing new antibiotics have fallen. New antibiotic approach  A new study by investigators from Brigham and […]

Targeting a specific enzyme in the muscle could help cancer patients preserve muscle mass and potentially prolong their survival, according to research from UTHealth Houston. A study led by Yi-Ping Li, PhD, professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, found that an enzyme known as UBR2 […]

Automated insulin delivery systems, also called artificial pancreas or closed-loop control systems, track a person’s blood glucose levels using a continuous glucose monitor and automatically deliver the hormone insulin when needed using an insulin pump. These systems replace reliance on testing glucose level by fingerstick, continuous glucose monitor with separate insulin delivery through multiple daily […]