David Roberson: Painkillers, Opioids, Heroin, Fentanyl, Oxycodone, NSAIDs, & the Neuroscience of Pain | #52

Nick Jikomes talks to Dr. David Roberson, a neuroscientist and co-founder of three ongoing biotech companies: Nocion Therapeutics, Blue Therapeutics, and Blackbox Bio. David is an expert in the neuroscience of pain and the conversation focuses mainly on pain: how does our brain sense and perceive pain? Why does pain sometimes become chronic, and last for a long-time? How do various classes of pain drugs work to relieve pain? 

They  discuss NSAIDs and opioids, including oxycodone, heroin, and fentanyl, as well as some interesting novel pain drugs currently in development. 

A portion of the podcast has a visual component, where David shows some of the technology he has helped develop that allows for automated, high-throughput measurements of animal behavior to detect and measure pain. Towards the end, they also discuss how this tech could be used for the characterization of novel psychoactive drugs and psychedelics. 

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