Tongzhen Xie, a postdoctoral associate at the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biophysics at Boston University, is this the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Highlighted Trainee Author for May 2025. 

The article that earned her the selection is titled “Agmatine inhibits NMDA receptor–mediated calcium transients in mouse spinal cord dorsal horn via intact PSD95-nNOS signaling” and is available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpet.2024.100061.  

Tongzhen’s research focuses on measuring neuronal activity through calcium signaling, a crucial process in pain transduction. While agmatine has been shown to alleviate sensitivity in animal models without the side effects associated with opioids, its effect on spinal cord calcium signaling remains unclear. “By deepening our understanding of agmatine’s mechanism of action, we hope to aid the development of agmatine-based drugs as potential non-opioid pain therapeutics."