Probing Pain

Nice Genes!

Challenging our assumptions about pain

When Jackie Gonzalez was just young, doctors assumed that she was pining for attention when she restlessly tried to rub her feet and describing that she was in constant pain. It wasn’t until she was a teenager that doctors and scientists diagnosed her with Erythromelalgia, also known as ‘Man on Fire Syndrome’. It's a rare condition, and even rarer for people to be born with it, like Jackie was. But what if this uncommon ailment could be cured with the help of an even less common animal?

Dr. Kaylee Byers sits down with Adele Gonzalvez from the University of Sydney on her work to understand the genetic properties of platypus venom. Researchers indicate that their peculiar toxin could put a halt to chronic pain. Meanwhile, producer Sean Holden, puts on rubber waders and sloshes into the boggy waters of Southern Australia to find the notoriously elusive platypus and its venom.

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Highlights:

(6:28) A lifetime of pain, Jackie Gonzalez on having Erythromelalgia

(13:51) A weird and wonderful platypus with Adele Gonzalvez

(21:30) On the platypus prowl, Josh Griffith and his team search for platypus and their venom

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Learn-A-Long: https://bit.ly/3Nv5X6v

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Resources:

Next-gen painkillers from nature’s deadliest life forms | The University of Queensland

Chronic Pain Among Adults — United States, 2019–2021 | MMWR and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

You Won’t Think the Platypus Is So Cute if You Feel the Excruciating Pain of Its Venom | Slate

The Science of Pain | GI Society

The mysterious science of pain - Joshua W. Pate | TED-Ed

Human pain and genetics: some basics | British Journal of Pain

Genetic contributions to pain: a review of findings in humans | Oral Dis. 2008 Nov;14(8):673-82

Why Do I Have Pain? | KidsHealth Medical Experts

Channelopathy-associated congenital insensitivity to pain | Medline Plus

Erythromelalgia | StatPearls Publishing

SCN9A gene sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 9 | Medline Plus

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Credit:

Special thanks to Jackie Gonzalez from the Erythromelalgia Association for providing field recordings of her daily experience living with EM.