BEHAVIOUR: reliable sophisticated animal models such as,

  • Existing model  to characterize the different emotional consequences of chronic neuropathic pain in rodents
  • Novel behavioural model that allows a precise characterization of the cognitive consequences of chronic pain exposure
  • Self-medication model to treat spontaneous pain manifestations in rodents that has been recently validated by partner 1 (Bura et al., 2013) to evaluate the effectiveness of the new sigma compounds

ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY:

  • Activity probing in the brainstem in areas where both inhibitory and facilitatory descending controls originate and recording from the amygdala

GENETICS:

  • Conditional KO mice for components of the endogenous opioid system in either peripheral nociceptive neurons or central neurons controlling emotional/cognitive responses
  • Conditional KO mice for components of the endogenous cannabinoid system in either peripheral nociceptive neurons or central neurons controlling emotional/cognitive responses

BIOMARKERS IN NEUROPATHIC PAIN IDENTIFICATION:

  • Murine models
  • Human samples
  • Cross-validation of findings between animal and human biomarkers
  • Next generation DNA sequencing for the identification of transcriptional signatures for both neuropathic pain and drug treatment
  • DNA sequence variants using whole genome sequencing (WGS) and genome wide association studies (GWAS), including re-phenotyping and replication approaches, as well as phenome scans to find out variants exhibitingassociation with neuropatic pain and endophenotypes

NEW ANALGESIC COMPOUNDS:

  • New non-selective opioid compounds with reduced undesirable side effects
  • New natural ligands of cannabinoid receptors CB1 and/or CB2

HUMAN STUDIES:

  • Observational studies in selected cohorts of patients with chronic pain conditions (HIV-associated neuropathy, post-mastectomy breast cancer)
  • Clinical trial to test the efficacy of new compounds in selected cohorts of patients with chronic pain conditions