Heidelberg Lecture

Chronic pain remains an unmet challenge in medicine and represents an area of frontier research. Why does pain persist despite healing of injuries in some individuals? Our work is revealing how neural circuits are remodelled over the transition to chronic pain and how this is driven by molecular plasticity. Our research explores the link between pain and suffering, manifest as depression, fear and stress, and is guided reverse translationally by major unsolved questions in patients with chronic pain. We employ a multifaceted approach that integrates whole animal physiology with in-vivo imaging, in-vivo and ex-vivo electrophysiological recordings, cell-type specific circuit dissection via opto-/chemo-genetics and tracing toolbox, transcranial magnetic and current stimulation and combination of behavioral therapies with pharmacological manipulations in mouse models of chronic pain. Our goal is to expose the underpinnings of pain and suffering and target them for pain relief.