Our Focus
Our group’s research has been based on understanding the transmission and control of pain, how neuronal systems alter in pathophysiological states and how novel and licensed drugs produce their effects with the aim of translating the basic research into clinical applications.
Early on we described Diffuse Noxious Inhibitory controls (DNIC) and subsequently provided a detailed description of their neural basis. DNIC are used as a possible diagnostic in chronic pain patients. At UCL, our original pioneering work on the neuronal actions of opioid receptors lead to major advances in opioid function, the idea of pre-emptive analgesia and other important clinical translations. We were the first group to show the NMDA receptor mediation of wind-up, then its role in persistent pain. This and our continuing work on central hyperexcitability has been seminal in understanding of pain in animals and humans. We further initiated some of the very first studies on the pharmacology of the developing spinal cord related to paediatric pain control. We have studied a number of novel mediators ranging from nitric oxide, adenosine, nicotinic ligands and newer opioids. Assessment of drug combinations has also guided clinical practice.
Early on we described Diffuse Noxious Inhibitory controls (DNIC) and subsequently provided a detailed description of their neural basis. DNIC are used as a possible diagnostic in chronic pain patients. At UCL, our original pioneering work on the neuronal actions of opioid receptors lead to major advances in opioid function, the idea of pre-emptive analgesia and other important clinical translations. We were the first group to show the NMDA receptor mediation of wind-up, then its role in persistent pain. This and our continuing work on central hyperexcitability has been seminal in understanding of pain in animals and humans. We further initiated some of the very first studies on the pharmacology of the developing spinal cord related to paediatric pain control. We have studied a number of novel mediators ranging from nitric oxide, adenosine, nicotinic ligands and newer opioids. Assessment of drug combinations has also guided clinical practice.
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We utilise in vivo electrophysiology to investigate how descending control of spinal nociceptive processing is altered in pathophysiological states.
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We are also interested in regions of the brain involved in reward and emotional/affective components of pain, and how these are altered in chronic pain states.
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We have taken our work on the plasticity of spinal signalling after inflammation and nerve injury to other pain states to develop models and examine changes in spinal and supra-spinal signalling in osteoarthritis and bone cancer-induced pain.
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