Arlene George, Ivan Linares-Garcia, Alex J. Yonk, , Xinyi C. Zhang, Justin Burdge, Victoria E. Abraira, David J. Margolis

Neuropathic pain drives time-dependent reorganization of corticostriatal circuits

BioRxiv, 2025
Melissa Gonzalez†, Mark A. Gradwell†, Joshua K Thackray, Komal R. Patel, Kanaksha K. Temkar, Victoria E. Abraira
The Using DeepLabCut-Live to probe state dependent neural circuits of behavior with closed-loop optogenetic stimulation
​Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 2025
Aman Upadhyay†, Mark A. Gradwell†, Thomas J. Vajtay, James Conner, Arnab A. Sayal, Chloe Azadegan, Komal R. Patel, Joshua K. Thackary, Manon Bohic, Fumiyasu Imai, Simon O. Ogundare,Yutaka Yoshida, Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, Eiman Azim, Victoria E. Abraira
The Dorsal Column Nuclei Scale Mechanical Allodynia During  Neuropathic Pain
​Cell Reports, 2025

Gradwell, M. A.†, Ozeri-Engelhard, N.†, Eisdorfer, J. T., Laflamme, O. D., Gonzalez, M., Upadhyay, A., Aoki, A., Shrier, T., Gandhi, M., Abbas-Zadeh, G., Oputa, O., Thackray, J. K., Ricci, M., Yusuf, N., Keating, J., Bohic, M., Imtiaz, Z., Alomary, S. A., Katz, J., Haas M,., Hernandez y., Akay T., Abraira, V. E.   
Multimodal sensory control of motor performance by glycinergic interneurons of the spinal cord deep dorsal horn
Neuron, 2024
Arlene George and Victoria E. Abraira
Good vibrations: The role of a mechanosensitive ion channel in sexual behavior is unveiled  
Science, August 2023
Manon Bohic† , Aman Upadhyay† , Jaclyn T. Eisdorfer , Jessica Keating, Rhiana C. Simon, Brandy A. Briones, Chloe Azadegan, Hannah D. Nacht, Olisemeka Oputa, Alana M. Martinez, Bridget N. Bethell , Mark A. Gradwell, Peter Romanienko , Matt S. Ramer, Garret D. Stuber and Victoria E. Abraira
​A new Hoxb8FlpO mouse line for intersectional approaches to dissect developmentally defined adult sensorimotor circuits
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 2023
Manon Bohic†, Luke  A. Pattison†, Anissa Jhumka, Heather Rossi, Joshua K. Thackray, Matthew Ricci, Nahom Mossazghi, William Foster, Simon Ogundare, Colin R. Twomey, Helen Hilton, Justin Arnold, Max A. Tischfield, Eric A. Yttri, Ewan St.John Smith, Ishmail Abdus-Saboor and Victoria E. Abraira
Mapping the neuroethological signatures  of pain, analgesia, and recovery in mice
Neuron, 2023
​Leah J. Elias, Isabella K. Succi, Melanie D. Schaffler, William Foster, Mark A. Gradwell, Manon Bohic, Akira Fushiki, Aman Upadhyay, Lindsay L. Ejoh, Ryan Schwark, Rachel Frazer, Brittany Bistis, Jessica E. Burke, Victoria Saltz, Jared E. Boyce, Anissa Jhumka, Rui M. Costa, Victoria E. Abraira, Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
Touch neurons underlying dopaminergic pleasurable touch and sexual receptivity
​Cell, 2023
Manon Bohic, Victoria E. Abraira
Wired for social touch: the sense that binds us to others
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 2022
Gradwell, M. A., Bohic, M., & Abraira, V. E.
Decoding Touch: Peripheral and Spinal Processing.
In L. V. Zholudeva & M. A. Lane (Eds.), Spinal Interneurons: Plasticity after Spinal Cord Injury (1st ed., pp.64-103)
Academic Press. ISBN 9780128192603
January, 2022 
Mark A Gradwell, Victoria E Abraira
​Sensory Symphonies: How Excitatory Spinal Cord Modules Orchestrate Behavior
​Neuron, January 2021 
Zholudeva, L. V., Abraira, V. E., Satkunendrarajah, K., McDevitt, T. C., Goulding, M. D., Magnuson, D. S. K., & Lane, M. A
Spinal Interneurons as Gatekeepers of Neuroplasticity after Injury or Disease
Journal of Neuroscience, January 2021 

THE BUILDING BLOCKS

Abraira VE*, Kuehn ED*, Chirila AM, Springel MW, Toliver AA, Zimmerman AL, Orefice LL, Boyle KA, Bai L, Song BJ, Bashista KA, O'Neill TG, Zhuo J, Tsan C, Hoynoski J, Rutlin M, Kus L, Niederkofler V, Watanabe M, Dymecki SM, Nelson SB, Heintz N, Hughes DI, Ginty DD.

​The Cellular and Synaptic Architecture of the Mechanosensory Dorsal Horn
Cell​. 2017 Jan 12;168(1-2):295-310
*co-first authors
Wiltschko AB, Johnson MJ, Iurilli G, Peterson RE, Katon JM, Pashkovski SL, Abraira VE, Adams RP, Datta SR
​
Mapping Sub-Second Structure in Mouse Behavior
Neuron. 2015 Dec 16;88(6):1121-35
Rutlin M*, Ho CY*, Abraira ​VE​*, Cassidy C, Bai L, Woodbury CJ, Ginty DD.

​The cellular and molecular basis of direction selectivity of Aδ-LTMRs
Cell. 2014 Dec 18;159(7):1640-51
*co-first authors
Abraira VE, Ginty DD.

​The sensory neurons of touch
​Neuron. 2013 Aug 21;79(4):618-39
Li L*, Rutlin M*, Abraira VE, Cassidy C, Kus L, Gong S, Jankowski MP, Luo W, Heintz N, Koerber HR, Woodbury CJ, Ginty DD.

​The functional organization of cutaneous low-threshold mechanosensory neurons
​Cell​. 2011 Dec 23;147(7):1615-27
*co-first authors

COLLABORATIONS

Gutierrez-Mecinas M, Kuehn ED, Abraira VE, Polgár E, Watanabe M, Todd AJ.
Immunostaining for Homer reveals the majority of excitatory synapses in laminae I-III of the mouse spinal dorsal horn
​Neuroscience. 2016 Aug 4;329:171-81
Ganley RP, Iwagaki N, del Rio P, Baseer N, Dickie AC, Boyle KA, Polgár E, Watanabe M, Abraira VE, Zimmerman A, Riddell JS, Todd AJ
Inhibitory Interneurons That Express GFP in the PrP-GFP Mouse Spinal Cord Are Morphologically Heterogeneous, Innervated by Several Classes of Primary Afferent and Include Lamina I Projection Neurons among Their Postsynaptic Targets
J Neurosci. 2015 May 13;35(19):7626-42
Tang JC, Rudolph S, Dhande OS, Abraira VE, Choi S, Lapan SW, Drew IR, Drokhlyansky E, Huberman AD, Regehr WG, Cepko CL.
Cell type-specific manipulation with GFP-dependent Cre recombinase
Nat Neurosci. 2015 Sep;18(9):1334-41

Dr. Abraira's Graduate work in the inner ear

Roberts KA, Abraira VE, Tucker AF, Goodrich LV, Andrews NC
Mutation of Rubie, a novel long non-coding RNA located upstream of Bmp4, causes vestibular malformation in mice
PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e29495
Abraira VE, Satoh T, Fekete DM, Goodrich LV
Vertebrate Lrig3-ErbB interactions occur in vitro but are unlikely to play a role in Lrig3-dependent inner ear morphogenesis
​PLoS One. 2010 Feb 1;5(2):e8981
Abraira VE, Del Rio T, Tucker AF, Slonimsky J, Keirnes HL, Goodrich LV.
Cross-repressive interactions between Lrig3 and netrin 1 shape the architecture of the inner ear
​Development. 2008 Dec;135(24):4091-9
Abraira VE, Hyun N, Tucker AF, Coling DE, Brown MC, Lu C, Hoffman GR, Goodrich LV
Changes in Sef levels influence auditory brainstem development and function
​J Neurosci. 2007 Apr 18;27(16):4273-82

About Us

The Abraira Lab is a collaborative neuroscientific endeavor to understand the somatosensory framework of touch. Our lab operates within the ​W.M. Keck Center of Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. We are open to interested post-doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate researchers willing to explore the body's largest perceptive sense.