World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Best Female Scientists
2025
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Neuroscience
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Best Female Scientists

D-Index
151
Citations
81913
World Ranking
147
National Ranking
89

Neuroscience

D-Index
153
Citations
83182
World Ranking
139
National Ranking
92

Medicine

D-Index
153
Citations
82903
World Ranking
1048
National Ranking
601

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Neuroscience in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Neuroscience in United States Leader Award

Overview

Linda R. Watkins is affiliated with the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of Medicine and Neuroscience, with a focus on subfields such as Physiology, Neurology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, and Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience.

The main topics covered in their work include Pain Mechanisms and Treatments, Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms, Exercise and Physiological Responses, Peripheral Neuropathies and Disorders, Anesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research, Spinal Cord Injury Research, and Inflammasome and immune disorders.

Among recent publications, notable papers include:

  • Targeted interleukin-10 plasmid DNA therapy in the treatment of osteoarthritis: Toxicology and pain efficacy assessments, 2020, Brain Behavior and Immunity
  • Autoimmune regulation of chronic pain, 2021, PAIN Reports
  • Postoperative cognitive dysfunction is made persistent with morphine treatment in aged rats, 2020, Neurobiology of Aging
  • Acute stress induces chronic neuroinflammatory, microglial and behavioral priming: A role for potentiated NLRP3 inflammasome activation, 2020, Brain Behavior and Immunity
  • Aging and miR-155 in mice influence survival and neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury, 2021, Brain Behavior and Immunity

Frequent collaborators in their research include Steven F. Maier, Suzanne M. Green-Fulgham, Peter M. Grace, Jayson B. Ball, and Andrew J. Kwilasz.

Their studies have been published predominantly in "Brain Behavior and Immunity," with 13 publications, followed by "Pain," "bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)," "PAIN Reports," and "Neurobiology of Aging."

Best Publications

  • Vagus nerve stimulation attenuates the systemic inflammatory response to endotoxin

    Lyudmila V. Borovikova;Svetlana Ivanova;Minghuang Zhang;Huan Yang

  • Advances in Neuropathic Pain: Diagnosis, Mechanisms, and Treatment Recommendations

    Robert H. Dworkin;Miroslav Backonja;Michael C. Rowbotham;Robert R. Allen

  • Pathological and protective roles of glia in chronic pain

    Erin D. Milligan;Linda R. Watkins

  • Cytokines for psychologists: implications of bidirectional immune-to-brain communication for understanding behavior, mood, and cognition.

    Steven F. Maier;Linda R. Watkins

  • Glial activation: a driving force for pathological pain.

    Linda R. Watkins;Erin D. Milligan;Steven F. Maier

  • Medial prefrontal cortex determines how stressor controllability affects behavior and dorsal raphe nucleus.

    J Amat;M V Baratta;E Paul;S T Bland

  • Organization of endogenous opiate and nonopiate pain control systems

    Linda R. Watkins;David J. Mayer

  • Beyond Neurons: Evidence That Immune and Glial Cells Contribute to Pathological Pain States

    Linda R. Watkins;Steven F. Maier

  • Pathological pain and the neuroimmune interface

    Peter M. Grace;Mark R. Hutchinson;Steven F. Maier;Linda R. Watkins

  • Immune activation: the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines in inflammation, illness responses and pathological pain states

    Linda R. Watkins;Steven F. Maier;Lisa E. Goehler

  • Stressor controllability and learned helplessness: the roles of the dorsal raphe nucleus, serotonin, and corticotropin-releasing factor.

    Steven F. Maier;Linda R. Watkins

  • Spinal Glia and Proinflammatory Cytokines Mediate Mirror-Image Neuropathic Pain in Rats

    Erin D. Milligan;Carin Twining;Marucia Chacur;Joseph Biedenkapp

  • Minocycline attenuates mechanical allodynia and proinflammatory cytokine expression in rat models of pain facilitation.

    Annemarie Ledeboer;Evan M. Sloane;Erin D. Milligan;Matthew G. Frank

  • GLIA: A novel drug discovery target for clinical pain

    Linda R. Watkins;Steven F. Maier

  • Cytokine-to-brain communication: A review & analysis of alternative mechanisms

    Linda R. Watkins;Steven F. Maier;Lisa E. Goehler;Lisa E. Goehler

  • Evidence for the neuropeptide cholecystokinin as an antagonist of opiate analgesia

    Patricia L. Faris;Barry R. Komisaruk;Linda R. Watkins;David J. Mayer

  • Microglia serve as a neuroimmune substrate for stress-induced potentiation of CNS pro-inflammatory cytokine responses.

    Matthew G. Frank;Michael V. Baratta;David B. Sprunger;Linda R. Watkins

  • Psychoneuroimmunology. The interface between behavior, brain, and immunity

    Steven F. Maier;Linda R. Watkins;Monika Fleshner

  • The pain of being sick: Implications of immune-to-brain communication for understanding pain.

    L. R. Watkins;S. F. Maier

  • Blockade of interleukin-1 induced hyperthermia by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy: evidence for vagal mediation of immune-brain communication☆

    Linda R. Watkins;Lisa E. Goehler;Jane K. Relton;Nicole Tartaglia

  • Advances in neuropathic pain: Diagnosis, mechanisms, and treatment recommendations. Editorial

    Robert H. Dworkin;Miroslav Backonja;Michael C. Rowbotham;Robert R. Allen

Frequent Co-Authors

Steven F. Maier
Steven F. Maier University of Colorado Boulder
Mark R. Hutchinson
Mark R. Hutchinson University of Adelaide
Erin D. Milligan
Erin D. Milligan University of New Mexico
Monika Fleshner
Monika Fleshner University of Colorado Boulder
Kenner C. Rice
Kenner C. Rice National Institutes of Health
Lisa E. Goehler
Lisa E. Goehler University of Virginia
Sondra T. Bland
Sondra T. Bland University of Colorado Denver
Hang Yin
Hang Yin Tsinghua University
Jerry W. Rudy
Jerry W. Rudy University of Colorado Boulder
Leslie A. Leinwand
Leslie A. Leinwand University of Colorado Boulder

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