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The research laboratory aims to understand painful experiences and how they modify neural circuits related to sensory, emotional, social, and cognitive information. By bringing together mouse genetics, electrophysiology, viral tracing, and pharmacogenetics, the work focuses on the functional interrogation of circuits in brain and spinal pathways. Data indicates that chronic pain alters synaptic transmission in distinct neural networks, leading to behavioral modifications dependent on brain changes. The research investigates the modulation of circuits by neuropeptides such as oxytocin and opioids to understand their involvement in pain, empathy, as well as social approach/avoidance dynamics in social analgesia. In a separate line of research, novel approaches are used to explore the learning mechanisms associated with the development of pain and anxiety, as well as methods of pain relief. The goal is to understand the processes and functional dimensions of pain perceptions, especially how they are modified by specific circuits encoding negative affective states and to develop new dynamic frameworks for treating unrelenting chronic pain.
Department of Sociology