Translational Pain Research

Summary Science Features

Clinical Research

Research Interests:

• Pharmacological and interventional management of neuropathic pain (e.g., complex regional pain syndrome, postherpetic neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy, spinal stenosis, low back pain with radiculopathy, and chemotherapy-related neuropathy) 
• Pharmacological and interventional management of inflammatory and nociceptive pain (e.g., osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, myofascial pain, axial lower back with facet joint disease, fibromyalgia)
• Opioid-induced hyperalgesia: clinical diagnosis and management
• Quantitative sensory testing in clinical research and practice
• Depression and chronic pain; chronic pain and opioid addiction
• Alternative medicine such as acupuncture and clinical pain management

Research Tools:

Besides conventional clinical pain research tools including questionnaires, functional assessment tools, and depression inventories, the Center is equipped to perform quantitative sensory testing, intravenous drug infusion (such as intravenous ketamine or lidocaine test), and other pain management procedures.  

Preclinical Research

Research Interests:

• Neural and molecular mechanisms of neuropathic pain, opioid tolerance and dependence, opioid addiction, and opioid-induced hyperalgesia
• Interactions between the cellular mechanisms of neuropathic pain and opioid tolerance
• Role of endogenous cannabinoids in the modulation of neuropathic pain
• Role of central glucocorticoid receptors in the neural and molecular mechanisms of pain and opioid tolerance
• Peripheral and central mechanisms of burn injury-induced pain and radicular low back pain

Research Tools:

The laboratory employs a variety of neuroscience research tools, including behavioral and pharmacological tools, autoradiography, ELISA, HPLC, patch clamping, cell culture, siRNA technique, Western blot, in situ hybridization, real-time PCR, EMSA, etc.