Webinar: The 5th Annual Migraine Science Collaborative Emerging Science Contest for Early-Career Investigators

On January 7, 2026, eleven early-career researchers competed in three categories, including migraine, pain, and trigeminal pathways.

Editor’s note: If you have any difficulty playing the webinar recording below, click here to view the video directly on YouTube.

The 5th Annual MSC Emerging Science Contest for Early-Career Investigators took place on January 7, 2026. The contest featured eleven presenters, including graduate students and postdocs, who each gave short presentations of their research on migraine and migraine-related topics; listen to the recording of the event above.

Three judges evaluated the scientific content and delivery of each talk including Tally Largent-Milnes (University of Arizona), Andrew Russo (University of Iowa) and Gretchen Tietjen, MD (University of Toledo).

The talks included:

Pain category
Winner: Sekun Park (HHMI and University of Washington)
Delineation of the molecular changes and neural circuit(s) that drive nociplastic pain

Runner up: Saurav Gupta (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
Enhanced excitability and mechanical sensitivity in trigeminal Aβ-nociceptors contributes to oxaliplatin-induced orofacial mechanical allodynia

Runner up: Xiaobo Liu (Texas Tech)
Goji berry ameliorates pain and restores neuroimmune and neurotransmission signaling in an LPS-induced chronic fatigue-like rat model

Runner up: Darian Mohsenin (UCSF)
Defining mouse trigeminal neuropathic pain behaviors using manual and automated high-speed video analysis

Migraine category
Winner: Tayla Rees (University of Birmingham)
Sex and oestrous cycle differences in calcitonin-gene related peptide release and expression in rat trigeminovascular system

Runner up: Holly Crowder (Georgetown University)
Migraine symptoms and cortical thickness differences in Gulf War Illness (GWI) are significantly reduced following a low glutamate diet

Runner up: Yoshihiro Kitaoka (UCLA)
Cannabinoid actions on sensitized dural nociceptors in a mouse migraine-like pain model

Runner up: Shiva Nematgorgani (UT Dallas)
Effects of multiple therapeutic compounds on migraine-like behavior induced by repetitive restraint stress in mice

Trigeminal pathways category
Winner: Abigail Wolfensohn (University of Toronto)
The glymphatic system in trigeminal neuralgia: Associations with surgical response

Runner up: Jerry Li (University of Toronto)
Recovery dynamics of a neural signature of pain in trigeminal neuralgia following surgical pain relief

Runner up: Krystyna Ann Rybka (Tufts Medical Center)
Glycomic profiling of N- and O-glycans in the trigeminal ganglia of male and female mice.