2024 Scientific Program
The updated and current program will always be available on your phone, so no hard copies will be provided at the Conference. Please print a copy of the program and bring it with you if that is your preference, but note that the program continues to change as speakers change titles or substitutions are made.
We need to avoid having everyone trying to register at 8:25am on Sunday morning. If you will be in Verona on Saturday the 18th, please register in the meeting room at the Hotel Due Torri between 1 pm and 5 pm on Saturday. The room will be very full at 08:30 on Sunday so please come early to have your choice of seats.
SUNDAY, 19 May, 2024
7:00 am- Registration
8:30 am Welcome and Announcements
9:00-10:00 am Session #1 “Descending Modulation and Pain” Kirsty Bannister (Chair)
• Patrik Ernfors (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) “The neurons of morphine antinociception”
• Diana Torta (KU Leuven, Belgium) “Psychophysiology of top-down modulation of secondary mechanical hyperalgesia: what do we know so far?”
• David Finn (University of Galway, Ireland) “The impact of stress and negative affect on pain: role of the endocannabinoid system”
• Tony Pickering (University of Bristol, UK) “Evolution of noradrenergic neuromodulation : what if the modules compete amongst themselves?”
10:00 - 10:45 am Coffee break
10:45- 11:30 am Data blitz #1 Kirsty Bannister (Chair)
• Michelle Roche (University of Galway, Ireland) “Neurobiology underlying altered nociception and pain in autism”
• Simon d’Aquin (University of Zurich, Switzerland) “Descending pain modulation by corticospinal S1 neurons”
• Jordan McCall (Washington University in St. Louis, USA) “Endogenous opioid regulation of locus coeruleus-mediated analgesia”
• Robbie Drake (Bristol University, UK) “Assessing cortical-midbrain interactions with oxygen amperometry for improved translation of fundamental pain research”
• Xiaoke Chen (Stanford University, USA) “A closed-loop circuits for chronic mechanical pain”
• Charlotte Lawrenson (Exeter University, UK) “Susceptibility to chronic pain: role of cerebellar-midbrain interactions”
11:30 – 12:30 pm Session #2 “Sensory Neurons and Pain” Greg Weir (Chair)
• Steve Middleton (University of Oxford, UK) “Silencing sensory neurons in rodent and human pain models”
• George Goodwin (King's College London, UK) “Large-scale examination of spontaneous sensory neuron activity in models of pain using in vivo calcium imaging”
• Stefan Lechner (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany) “The role of silent nociceptors in inflammatory pain”
• Greg Weir (University of Glasgow, UK) “Determining the contribution of discrete sensory neuron types to neuropathic pain”
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #3 "Sensory Neurons and Pain” Michaela Kress (Chair)
• Alex Binshtok (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) "Spatial and temporal integration of pain-related signals along nociceptive terminals"
• Armen Akopian (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, USA) “Identity and function of sensory neurons controlling facial myalgia”
• Seog Bae Oh (Seoul National University, South Korea) “Natural Killer Cells as a novel therapeutic target for neuropathic pain”
• Michaela Kress - (Medical University Innsbruck, Austria) "IL-4 shaping glutamatergic synapse-like structures for more mature human iPSC-derived neuronal phenotypes"
3:00- 3:30 pm Data Blitz #2 “Sensory Neurons and Pain” Michaela Kress (Chair)
• Pascal Fossat (University of Bordeaux, France) “Spinal cord electrophysiology in freely-moving mice”
• Sara E. Jager (Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark) “3D imaging of the nervous system”
• Javier López Soto (North Carolina State University, USA) "Nociceptor function through cell-specific alternative splicing"
• Stuart Bevan (King’s College London, UK) “Pain in Post-COVID syndrome patients”
3:30 – 4:15 pm Coffee break
4:15- 5:15 pm Session #4 "The Microbiome and Pain" Kate Sadler (Chair)
• Kate Sadler (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) “The gut microbiome and gastrointestinal chemosensation drive chronic sickle cell disease pain”
• Christophe Altier (University of Calgary, Canada) “Early life microbiota colonization programs nociceptor sensitivity via mast cell-derived NGF”
• Arkady Khoutorsky (McGill University, Canada) “Gut microbiota promotes pain in fibromyalgia”
• Anna Taylor (University of Alberta, Canada) “Targeting the gastrointestinal environment as a treatment for opioid induced hyperalgesia”
5:15 – 6:30 pm – Data Blitz #3 Kate Sadler (Chair)
• Elena Lucarini (University of Florence, Italy) "Mechanistic insight into the interplay between gut and microbiota responsible for the persistence of post-inflammatory visceral pain"
• Steven Prescott (Hospital for Sick Children & University of Toronto, Canada) ”Automated pain testing in mice using robotics and machine learning”
• Shivani Ruparel (University of Texas San Antonio, USA) “Beyond rodents; exploring pain with the uncommon Common Marmoset”
• Laurent Martin (Southern Arizona VA Health Care System, Tucson, USA) “Phototherapy to modulate human sensory thresholds’
• Nikita Ruparel (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, USA) "The emerging role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in orofacial pain"
• Qiufu Ma (Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China) “A blockage of incision pain development by electroacupuncture”
• Jackson Brougher (Doloromics Inc, Menlo Park, USA) “Negative allosteric modulation of GPCRs in spinal projection cells and interneurons”
• Ben Title (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) “The Guardians of Passage: adaptive changes in the output from the first nociceptive neural network”
• David Zimmermann (Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria) "Biophysical Essentials; a full stack open-source software framework for conserved and advanced analysis of patch-clamp recordings”
6:45 -7:45 pm Aperitivo (get-together in the main lobby at ground level, with food and drink)
MONDAY, 20 May, 2024
8:30- 9:30 am Session #5 “Keratinocytes and Pain” Cheryl Stucky (Chair)
• Matthieu Talagas (University of Western Brittany and Brest University Hospital, Brest, France) “Neuro-keratinocyte synapses”
• Stephanie Puig (University of Massachusetts, USA) “Involvement of keratinocytes and platelet-derived growth factor receptor signaling in peripheral opioid tolerance”
• Daniela Maria Menichella (Northwestern University, USA) “Non-neuronal cells and cutaneous afferent communication in painful diabetic neuropathy”
• Nurcan Üçeyler (University Hospital Würzburg, Germany) “The Neuro-cutaneous Unit; the role of skin in pain”
9:30-10:15 am Data blitz #4 Cheryl Stucky (Chair)
• Diana Bautista (UC Berkeley, USA) “Neurocutaneous plasticity after spinal cord injury”
• Michael Caterina (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA) “Pain mechanisms in hereditary skin diseases”
• Cheryl Stucky (Medical College of Wisconsin, USA) “Keratinocytes actively drive input for neuropathic pain”
• Alfonso Romero-Sandoval (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, USA) “ER stress in immune cells in the context of CIPN”
• Hanneke Willemen (UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands) "IgG from Long-COVID patients induces sensory hypersensitivity in mice"
• Samiha Shaikh (University of Cambridge, UK) “Unravelling Genetic Predisposition in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1”
10:15 - 11:00 am Coffee break
11:00 am - 12:00 pm Session #6 “GPCR Signaling and Beyond” Daniela Salvemini/Andrea Hohmann (Co-Chairs)
• Andrea Hohmann (Indiana University Bloomington, USA) “A brain impermeant inhibitor of monoacylglycerol lipase suppresses neuropathic pain through a CB2 receptor mechanism without producing tolerance or physical dependence”
• Daniele Piomelli (University of California Irvine, USA) “A lipid signaling mechanism that gates the progression to pain chronicity”
• Amynah Pradhan (Washington University, St. Louis, USA) “Delta opioid receptors as a therapeutic target for headache disorders”
• Daniela Salvemini (St. Louis University School of Medicine, USA) “Spinal roles of the GPCR P2Y14 in neuropathic pain”
• Jason McDougall (Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada) “Protease activated receptors and arthritis pain”
12:00-12:30 pm Data Blitz #5 Jeffrey Mogil (Chair)
• Venetia Zachariou (Boston University, USA) “Modulation of sensory hypersensitivity by G protein complexes in models of neuropathic pain”
• Catherine Cahill (UCLA, USA) “Chronic pain enhances acquisition of remifentanil self-administration in a sex dependent manner”
• Lucia Hipolito (University of Valencia, Spain) “Previous exposure to morphine self-administration prevents pain-induced increase of alcohol intake in female rat”
• Martin Löffler (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany) “Learning-related neural predictors of the development and treatment of chronic pain”
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #7 “Sex Differences and Pain” Jeffrey Mogil (Chair)
• Jeffrey Mogil (McGill University, Montreal, Canada) “Pain, Sex, and Pavlov’s Dog”
• Jessica Higginbotham and Jose Moron-Concepcion (Washington University, St. Louis, USA) “Sex-specific effects of pain on fentanyl self-administration and the role of ovarian hormones”
• Joyce T. Da Silva (University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA) “Sex differences in pain and treatment outcomes: a whole-brain functional MRI analysis”
• Michael W. Salter (University of Toronto, Canada) “Sex differences, and similarities, in a model of peripheral neuropathic pain”
3:00- 4:00 pm Session #8 “Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain” Susanne Becker (Chair)
• Emanuel van den Broeke (KU Leuven, Health Psychology, Belgium) “Is the susceptibility to develop central sensitization predictive for persistent post-surgical pain?”
• Susanne Becker (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany) “Psychobiological mechanisms of the intersection of reward and pain processing; a route to chronic pain?”
• Anne-Marie Heegaard (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) “Pain in malignant and non-malignant bone disorders”
• Chelsea Hopkins (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) “Pain in Fibrous Dysplasia; identifying nociceptive mechanisms in a preclinical model”
4:00- 4:45 pm Coffee break
4:45- 5:45 pm Session #9 “Pain in Development” Maria Fitzgerald (London, UK, Chair)
• Simon Beggs (Inst Child Health, London, UK) “The impact of early life injury on social behaviour”
• Rebeccah Slater (Univ. of Oxford, UK) “Developing pain vulnerability in early life”
• Lorenzo Fabrizi (UCL, London, UK) “Maturation of cortical pain processing in preterm infants”
• Artur Kania (McGill Univ, Montreal, Canada) “Developmental insights into the function of spinal projection neurons”
5:45- 6:05 pm Data blitz #6 Maria Fitzgerald (Chair)
• Judy Yoo (University of Cincinnati, USA) “Early life injury alters spinal astrocyte development”
• Stephanie Koch (UCL, London, UK) “Plasticity in sensorimotor circuits”
• Nynke van den Hoogen (University of Calgary, Canada) “Neonatal pain and opioids; life-long effects on nociception”
TUESDAY, 21 May, 2024
8:30- 9:30 am Session #10 “Human Nociceptor Physiology, Pathology, and Signaling” Ted Price (Chair)
• Rob Gereau (Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA) “Human nociceptor physiology and patch-seq”
• Angelika Lampert (RWTH Aachen University, Germany) “A molecular marker for human sleeping nociceptors determined by Patch-Seq”
• Heike Rittner (University Hospital Wuerzburg, Germany) “Neuronal pathology in the human DRG after brachial avulsion and its relation to pain”
• Patrick Dougherty (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA) “Mechanisms of spontaneous activity in human nociceptors”
9:30- 10:30 am Session #11 “Insights into Pain Mechanisms from Studies of Human Tissue” Rob Gereau (Chair)
• Will Renthal (Harvard Medical School, USA) “Harmonized cross-species atlases of trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia"
• Esther Pogatzki-Zahn (University Muenster, Germany) “Human skin and blood proteomics after incision/postsurgical pain”
• Steve Davidson (University of Cincinnati, USA) “GPCR signaling in human nociceptors”
• Diana Tavares-Ferreira (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) “mRNA localization in human peripheral axons”
10:30 - 11:15 am Coffee break
11:15-12:30 pm Data Blitz #7 “Insights into Pain Mechanisms from Studies of Human Tissue” Rob Gereau (Chair)
• Ted Price (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) “Molecular pathology in the human DRG linked to diabetic neuropathic pain”
• Emmanuel Bourinet (Montpellier University, France) "T-type calcium channel functional characterisation in human DRG"
• Jimena Perez-Sanchez (University of Oxford, UK) “Assessing neuropathic changes in primary afferent excitability using human iPSC-derived nociceptors”
• Harrison Stratton (University of Arizona and University of Pittsburgh, USA) “Sexual dimorphism in human nociceptors”
• Deborah Schechtman (University of São Paulo, Brazil) "Exploring phospholipase C gamma as a key player in inflammatory pain"
• Martina Morchio (University of Sheffield, UK) "Molecular changes linked with neuropathic pain in human lingual neuromas"
• Behrang Sharif (McGill University, Montreal, Canada) “Cellular heterogeneity in human DRGs: what do we learn from ATAC and Long-Read sequencing”
• Herta Flor (Heidelberg University, Germany) "A mechanism-based approach to the prevention of chronic pain and its co-morbid mental disorders"
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #12 “Visceral Pain Mechanisms” Nick Spencer and Stuart Brierley (Co-Chairs)
• Lori Birder (University of Pittsburgh, USA) “PNPase inhibition- an effective approach for the treatment of visceral pain”
• Edita Navratilova (University of Arizona, USA) “Mechanisms of endometrial pain”
• David Bulmer (University of Cambridge, UK) “GPR35 as a target for the treatment of visceral pain”
• Nicolas Cenac (Inserm UMR1220 Digestive Health Research Institute, Toulouse, France) “Microbiota-sensory nerve interactions: towards mechanisms in visceral pain”
3:00 - 3:45 Data Blitz #8 Nick Spencer and Stuart Brierley (Co-Chairs)
• Nathalie Vergnolle (INSERM U1220 Digestive Health Research Institute, Toulouse, France) “Epithelial signals in pain associated with inflammatory bowel diseases”
• James Bayrer (University of California San Francisco, USA) “Gut sensory epithelial cells modulate visceral pain”
• Ursula Wesselmann (University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA) “Translational opportunities; chronic visceral pain syndromes in the context of co-morbid pain conditions”
• Stuart Brierley (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Australia) “New aspects on the mechanisms underlying chronic visceral pain”
• Nick Spencer (Flinders University, Australia) “Does the vagus nerve encode visceral pain signals from lower abdominal organs?”
3:45-4:30 pm Coffee break
4:30-5:30 pm Session #13 “Osteoarthritis/Joint Pain” Ewan St. John Smith (Chair)
• Eva Kosek (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, and Uppsala University, Sweden) “The neuroimmune interface in OA pain"
• Niels Eijkelkamp (University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands) “Targeting the immune system to control OA pain”
• Rachel Miller (Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, USA) “Mechanical aspects of osteoarthritis pain”
• Ewan St. John Smith (University of Cambridge, UK) “Driving and controlling joint pain”
5:30-6:30 pm Data Blitz #9 - Ewan St. John (Chair):
• David Walsh (University of Nottingham, UK) “OA pain: mechanisms informing symptoms”
• Jason Ivanusic (University of Melbourne, Australia) “Neural mechanisms of bone pain; tools for exploring the structure and function of nerves in bone”
• Shao-Jun Tang (Stony Brook University, USA) “Pathogenic mechanism of HIV-associated pain”
• Nils Simon (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden) “Characterization of the antinociceptive effect of baricitinib in the collagen antibody-induced arthritis mouse model”
• Sophie Pezet (Laboratory ‘Physics for Medicine’, INSERM, ESPCI-PSL, France) “New insights in migraine physiopathology using ultrafast ultrasound imaging”
• Anne Baron (IPMC, Université Cote d'Azur, Sophia Antipolis, France) "Decreased expression of phosphodiesterase 2A rescues inflammatory cutaneous hypersensitivity defect associated with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability in a mice model of Fragile X Syndrome"
• Earl Carstens (University of California, Davis, USA) "Role of substance P in descending modulation of itch and pain"
• Manuela Schmidt (University of Vienna, Austria) “Proteome-based systems biology to explore age and sex differences in neuropathic pain”
WEDNESDAY, 22 May, 2024
8:30-9:30 am Session #14 "The NaV1.7 Dilemma; To Target or Not to Target, That is the Question" Rajesh Khanna (Chair)
• David Bennett (University of Oxford, UK) "Genetic basis of inherited painful channelopathies"
• Sulayman Dib-Hajj (Yale University, USA) "Spatial and temporal regulation of Nav1.7 channels in sensory neurons by inflammatory mediators"
• Rajesh Khanna (University of Florida, USA) "NaV1.7 under siege: CRMP2-Ubc9 inhibition shines as the promising path to pain relief"
• Irina Vetter (University of Queensland, Australia) "Pain-causing Stinging Nettle toxins target TMEM233 to modulate NaV1.7 function"
9:30-10:30 am Session #15 - "Sodium Channels and Pain" - John Mulcahy (Chair)
• John Mulcahy (SiteOne, USA) "Nav1.7 state-independent inhibitors: translation of preclinical findings to the clinic"
• David Hackos (Genentech, USA) “Nav1.7 inhibitors in the clinic: what we've learned, why it's hard, and the path forward”
• Darrell Henze (Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA) "Clinical dose prediction and MOA studies for Nav1.8 inhibitors to treat pain"
• John Mulcahy (SiteOne, USA) Panel discussion- speakers and audience
10:30 - 11:15 am Coffee break
11:15-12:15 pm Session #16 Neuroimmune Axis and Pain Shafaq Sikandar (Chair)
• Thiago Cunha (Center for Research in Inflammatory Diseases CRID- University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) “Meningeal innate lymphocyte ILC-2 drives neuropathic pain”
• Iain Chessell (AstraZeneca, UK) “Efficacy and safety of MEDI7352, an anti-NGF, anti-TNF bispecific in painful diabetic neuropathy”
• Luda Diatchenko (McGill University, Canada) “Contribution of neutrophils to fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions”
• Camilla Svensson (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) “Neuroimmune interactions in the skin and DRG in fibromyalgia”
12:15 – 12:30 pm – Data blitz #10
• Margot Maurer (King’s College London, UK) “Immune contribution to pathological pain mechanisms in fibromyalgia”
• Zerina Kurtovic (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) “Exploring novel macrophage and neutrophil-associated mechanisms in autoantibody-induced pain”
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 – 3:00 pm Session #17 “Neuroimmune Axis and Pain” Camilla Svensson (Chair)
• Shafaq Sikandar (Queen Mary University of London, UK) “Immunological basis of nociplastic pain states”
• Mathilde Israel (King’s College London, UK) “Sensory afferent abnormalities in passive-transfer of fibromyalgia”
• Sebastien Talbot (Queen’s University, Canada; Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) “Opioid-producing B-cells silence tumor-infiltrating neurons
• Javier Aguilera-Lizarraga (University of Cambridge, UK) “Neuroimmune interactions triggered by psychological stress lead to food-induced abdominal pain”
3:00-4:00 pm Session #18 “Cortical Circuits and Pain I” Jing Wang (Chair)
• Jing Wang (New York University, USA) “Cortical mechanisms and neuromodulation”
• Markus Ploner (Technical University of Munich, Germany) “Neuronal oscillations and connectivity in human pain processing”
• Patrick Sheets (Indiana University, USA) “Dissecting cellular-circuit disruption of defined mPFC neurons in mouse models of pain”
• Gerald Zamponi (University of Calgary, Canada) “Optogenetic dissection of neocortical pain pathways”
4:00-4:45 pm Coffee Break
4:45-6:00 pm Session #19 “Cortical Circuits and Pain II” Rohini Kuner (Chair)
• Rohini Kuner (Heidelberg University, Germany) “Exploiting neocortical circuits for pain relief”
• Carl Saab (Cleveland Clinic, USA) “From ocular pain in mice to personalized pain medicine and AI: A translational journey”
• Philippe Séguéla (McGill University, Canada) “New insights on dysregulated dopaminergic signaling in neuropathic ACC”
• Thomas Nevian (University of Bern, Switzerland) “Cortical signatures of analgesia”
• Vania Apkarian (Northwestern University, USA) “Neuropsychology of long-term opioid exposure in chronic pain”
THURSDAY, 23 May, 2024
8:30-9:30 am Session #20 “Amygdala and Pain I Volker Neugebauer (Chair)
• Yarimar Carrasquillo (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA) “Divergent amygdala circuits for somatosensory and affective components of pain”
• Greg Scherrer (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA) “Neural circuits and therapeutics for pain unpleasantness and its cognitive modulation”
• Nitsan Goldstein (McGovern Institute, MIT, Cambridge, USA) “Amygdala control of the emotional aspect of pain”
• Fusao Kato (Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan) “Attempt to whole-brain visualization of pain-associated neurons and their networks”
9:30- 10:30 am Session 21: Amygdala and Pain II Yarimar Carrasquillo (Chair)
• Ipek Yalcin (CNRS, University of Strasbourg, France) “Cingulate cortex; crossroads between amygdala and habenula”
• Shashank Dravid (Texas A&M University, USA) “Glutamate delta 1 and autophagy mechanisms in the central amygdala in chronic pain”
• Gregory Corder (University of Pennsylvania, USA) “Nociceptive amygdala-striatal circuits for pain aversion”
• Marta Ceko (University of Colorado Boulder, USA) “Distributed processing of pain and negative affect in the human brain"
10:30 - 11:15 am Coffee break
11:15 - 12:00 pm Data Blitz #11 “Amygdala and Pain” Volker Neugebauer (Chair)
• Volker Neugebauer (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, USA) “Amygdala neuroplasticity and neuroimmune signaling”
• Guangchen Ji (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, USA) “Opposing functions of mu and kappa opioid receptor neurons in the amygdala in neuropathic pain”
• Benedict Kolber (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) ”A computational approach to integrate amygdala data across cell types"
• Nick Gilpin (LSUHSC, New Orleans, USA) “Chronic alcohol produces long-term hyperalgesia associated with amygdala circuit function”
• Mike Burman (University of New England, USA) “Sex-dependent changes in central nucleus of the amygdala neuropeptide expression following early-life pain”
12:00 - 12:30 pm Data Blitz #12
• Dale George (Doloromics Inc, Menlo Park, USA) “Identification of a high-affinity mTOR binder leading to specific protein degradation and reduced neuronal excitability”
• Letizia Marvaldi (Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi, Orbassano, Italy) “Importin alpha3 controls age-dependent axonal branching by modulating ribosomal protein expression”
• Ichrak Drissi (University of Cambridge, UK) “Congenital insensitivity to pain or Midface Toddler Excoriation Syndrome? A matter of PRDM12 polyalanine tract expansion”
• Andrea Furlan (University of Toronto, Canada) “Results of a randomized controlled trial of opioid tapering for chronic pain”
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #22 Spinal and Ascending Brain Circuits” Reza Sharif (Chair)
• Allan Basbaum (University of California San Francisco, USA) “Anesthetized vs. awake recording provides a new view of the labeled line question”
• Sam Myung-chul Noh (University of Pittsburgh, USA) “Mechanical allodynia circuitry within a cross species, cell type atlas for therapeutic applications”
• Charles Warwick (University of Pittsburgh, USA) “A population view of somatosensory integration”
• Andrew Bell (University of Glasgow, UK) “Deep sequencing of Phox2a nuclei reveals five classes of anterolateral system neurons”
3:00 – 4:00 pm Session #23 "Spinal Circuits” David Hughes (Chair)
• Haoyi Qiu (McGill University, Canada) "Parvalbumin gates chronic pain by modulating the firing patterns of inhibitory neurons"
• David Hughes (University of Glasgow, UK) “Presynaptic control of C-fibre low-threshold mechanoreceptor afferents”
• Mark Gradwell (Rutgers University, USA) “Tactile sensitivity scaling by the dorsal column nuclei"
• Martyn Goulding (Salk Institute, USA) "Mechanical allodynia: the dorsal column nuclei revisited"
4:00 - 4:45 pm Coffee break
4:45 - 5:45 pm Session #24 “Neuropeptides and Pain” Marc Landry and Bradley Taylor (Co-Chairs)
• Debbie Hay (University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand) “Amylin and CGRP in migraine”
• Greg Dussor (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) “Peptides in the meninges; potential roles in migraine”
• Marc Landry (University of Bordeaux, CNRS , France) “Relaxin 3-mediated analgesia in ACC and BLA”
• Brad Taylor (University of Pittsburgh, USA) “NPY and Y1 receptors in parabrachial nucleus”
5:45- 6:30 pm Data blitz #13 Marc Landry (Chair)
• Nick Betley (University of Pennsylvania, USA) “A parabrachial hub for the prioritization of survival behavior”
• Carol Kopruszinski (University of Arizona, USA)/Tharani Chessell (AstraZeneca, UK) "PAR2 as a therapeutic target for migraine"
• Juliana Geremias Chichorro (Federal University of Parana, Brazil) "Contribution of Cav3.2 to migraine-related responses in vivo and in vitro"
• Daniel Castro (Washington University, St. Louis, USA) "Endogenous enkephalin peptide in dorsal raphe nucleus regulates aversion sensitivity"
• Dustin Green (University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, USA) “A role for MRGPRs in pain”
• Lauriane Delay (Physics for Medicine / NeuroDol, France) “Functional connectivity changes in preclinical models of migraine using a new approach of neuroimaging: functional ultrasound imaging”
FRIDAY, 24 May, 2024
8:30- 9:30 am Session #25 “What Brain Imaging Can Teach Us About Human Pain and Pain Modulation” - Marco Loggia (Chair)
• Luke Henderson (University of Sydney, Australia) “Human brainstem imaging of pain and pain modulation”
• Ulrike Bingel (University Medicine Essen, Germany) “Different mechanisms underlying placebo analgesia and translational implications”
• Karin Jensen (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden) “Brain representations of pain among individuals with self-injury behavior”
• Marco Loggia (Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA) “Pain, the pandemic, and brain inflammation”
9:30-10:15 am Data Blitz #14 Marco Loggia (Chair)
• Zeynab Alshelh (University of Sydney, Australia) "Can presurgical brain inflammation predict recovery from total knee replacement?"
• Joe Taylor (King's College London, UK) “Using functional MRI and psychophysics to investigate ascending and descending pain modulation pathways''
• Kevin Keay (University of Sydney, Australia) “Position-emission tomography imaging of glial reactivity in a preclinical model of orofacial neuropathic pain”
• Lewis Crawford (University of Sydney, Australia) “Assessing the behavioural consistency and neural activation of placebo analgesia responses across time"
• Andrew Marshall (University of Liverpool, UK) “Signaling of mechanical pain in the human anterolateral pathway”
10:15- 11:00 am – Coffee break
11:00- 12:00 pm Session #26 “Translational Challenges of Bringing Optogenetics to Pain Therapy” Marie-Eve Paquet (Chair)
• Oscar Solis (National Institute of Health, USA) “Optogenetic tools adapted to translational and future clinical applications”
• Marie-Eve Paquet (CERVO Brain Research Centre, Université Laval, Canada) “Challenges in viral-based gene transfer therapy for pain”
• Isabelle Aubert (Sunnybrook Research Institute, University of Toronto, Canada) “Focused ultrasound as a strategy for targeted gene delivery through the blood-brain barrier”
• Michael Joel Kessler (Trinity College, University of Toronto, Canada) “How to address life and personality-altering implications of optogenetics”
12:00- 12:30 pm Data Blitz #15 Marie-Eve Paquet (Chair)
• Aubin Moutal (St. Louis University, USA) “Space and time controlled gene editing to understand pain”
• Sanggon Kim (Université Laval, Canada) “Micro-lensed fiber optic probe for single cell optogenetics in vivo”
• Paschalina Chrysostomidou (University of Glasgow, UK) "Developing novel viral vectors to facilitate gene therapies for neuropathic pain"
12:30-2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #27 “Psychophysical Exploration of Pain” Kristian Petersen (Chair)
• Lucy Zhao (King's College London, UK) “Assessing pain and neurodiversity in persistent rheumatoid arthritis”
• Daniel Segelcke (University of Münster, Germany) “Advances in QST: bridging preclinical and clinical research for effective pain phenotyping”
• Laura Sirucek (Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland) “The association of pressure pain thresholds with periaqueductal gray neurotransmitters and its absence in chronic pain”
• Kristian Petersen (Aalborg University, Denmark) "Variability in QST findings and how we can utilize this in patients chronic pain"
3:00 – 3:30 pm Data Blitz #16 Kristian Petersen (Chair)
• Giulia Liberati (Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium) “Modulation of pain-related oscillations recorded from the human insula using intracerebral EEG”
• Thomas Graven-Nielsen (Aalborg University, Denmark) “The relevance of cortical homeostatic plasticity in the nociceptive system”
• Zachary Campbell (University of Wisconsin, USA) "The role of a conserved translation factor kinase in nociception"
3:30- 4:15 pm Coffee Break
4:15 -5:15 pm Session #28 “Mechanical Nociception” Saad Nagi (Chair)
• Wenqin Luo (University of Pennsylvania, USA) “Single-soma deep RNA-seq of human DRG neurons”
• Saad Nagi (Linköping University, Sweden) “Human Aβ-nociceptor subtypes and functions”
• Oumie Thorell (Western Sydney University, Australia and Linköping University, Sweden) "Pain and withdrawal reflex responses in humans"
• David Mahns (Western Sydney University, Australia) “Selective activation of human muscle spindle afferents; experimental and clinical studies”
5:15-6:15 pm Session #29 “Chloride-Gate; The Next Impeachment!” Yves De Koninck (Chair)
• Yves De Koninck (Université Laval, Québec, Canada) “KCC2, through the keyhole of the chloride-gate”
• Francesco Ferrini (Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy) “Chloride control: lady-gate vs. male-gate”
• Wendy Imlach (Monash University, Australia) “Chloride-gate across species”
• Shilpa Kadam, PhD (Axonis Therapeutics Inc., Boston, USA) “Targeting the chloride-gate for therapeutics”
END OF CONFERENCE
We need to avoid having everyone trying to register at 8:25am on Sunday morning. If you will be in Verona on Saturday the 18th, please register in the meeting room at the Hotel Due Torri between 1 pm and 5 pm on Saturday. The room will be very full at 08:30 on Sunday so please come early to have your choice of seats.
SUNDAY, 19 May, 2024
7:00 am- Registration
8:30 am Welcome and Announcements
9:00-10:00 am Session #1 “Descending Modulation and Pain” Kirsty Bannister (Chair)
• Patrik Ernfors (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) “The neurons of morphine antinociception”
• Diana Torta (KU Leuven, Belgium) “Psychophysiology of top-down modulation of secondary mechanical hyperalgesia: what do we know so far?”
• David Finn (University of Galway, Ireland) “The impact of stress and negative affect on pain: role of the endocannabinoid system”
• Tony Pickering (University of Bristol, UK) “Evolution of noradrenergic neuromodulation : what if the modules compete amongst themselves?”
10:00 - 10:45 am Coffee break
10:45- 11:30 am Data blitz #1 Kirsty Bannister (Chair)
• Michelle Roche (University of Galway, Ireland) “Neurobiology underlying altered nociception and pain in autism”
• Simon d’Aquin (University of Zurich, Switzerland) “Descending pain modulation by corticospinal S1 neurons”
• Jordan McCall (Washington University in St. Louis, USA) “Endogenous opioid regulation of locus coeruleus-mediated analgesia”
• Robbie Drake (Bristol University, UK) “Assessing cortical-midbrain interactions with oxygen amperometry for improved translation of fundamental pain research”
• Xiaoke Chen (Stanford University, USA) “A closed-loop circuits for chronic mechanical pain”
• Charlotte Lawrenson (Exeter University, UK) “Susceptibility to chronic pain: role of cerebellar-midbrain interactions”
11:30 – 12:30 pm Session #2 “Sensory Neurons and Pain” Greg Weir (Chair)
• Steve Middleton (University of Oxford, UK) “Silencing sensory neurons in rodent and human pain models”
• George Goodwin (King's College London, UK) “Large-scale examination of spontaneous sensory neuron activity in models of pain using in vivo calcium imaging”
• Stefan Lechner (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany) “The role of silent nociceptors in inflammatory pain”
• Greg Weir (University of Glasgow, UK) “Determining the contribution of discrete sensory neuron types to neuropathic pain”
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #3 "Sensory Neurons and Pain” Michaela Kress (Chair)
• Alex Binshtok (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) "Spatial and temporal integration of pain-related signals along nociceptive terminals"
• Armen Akopian (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, USA) “Identity and function of sensory neurons controlling facial myalgia”
• Seog Bae Oh (Seoul National University, South Korea) “Natural Killer Cells as a novel therapeutic target for neuropathic pain”
• Michaela Kress - (Medical University Innsbruck, Austria) "IL-4 shaping glutamatergic synapse-like structures for more mature human iPSC-derived neuronal phenotypes"
3:00- 3:30 pm Data Blitz #2 “Sensory Neurons and Pain” Michaela Kress (Chair)
• Pascal Fossat (University of Bordeaux, France) “Spinal cord electrophysiology in freely-moving mice”
• Sara E. Jager (Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark) “3D imaging of the nervous system”
• Javier López Soto (North Carolina State University, USA) "Nociceptor function through cell-specific alternative splicing"
• Stuart Bevan (King’s College London, UK) “Pain in Post-COVID syndrome patients”
3:30 – 4:15 pm Coffee break
4:15- 5:15 pm Session #4 "The Microbiome and Pain" Kate Sadler (Chair)
• Kate Sadler (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) “The gut microbiome and gastrointestinal chemosensation drive chronic sickle cell disease pain”
• Christophe Altier (University of Calgary, Canada) “Early life microbiota colonization programs nociceptor sensitivity via mast cell-derived NGF”
• Arkady Khoutorsky (McGill University, Canada) “Gut microbiota promotes pain in fibromyalgia”
• Anna Taylor (University of Alberta, Canada) “Targeting the gastrointestinal environment as a treatment for opioid induced hyperalgesia”
5:15 – 6:30 pm – Data Blitz #3 Kate Sadler (Chair)
• Elena Lucarini (University of Florence, Italy) "Mechanistic insight into the interplay between gut and microbiota responsible for the persistence of post-inflammatory visceral pain"
• Steven Prescott (Hospital for Sick Children & University of Toronto, Canada) ”Automated pain testing in mice using robotics and machine learning”
• Shivani Ruparel (University of Texas San Antonio, USA) “Beyond rodents; exploring pain with the uncommon Common Marmoset”
• Laurent Martin (Southern Arizona VA Health Care System, Tucson, USA) “Phototherapy to modulate human sensory thresholds’
• Nikita Ruparel (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, USA) "The emerging role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in orofacial pain"
• Qiufu Ma (Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China) “A blockage of incision pain development by electroacupuncture”
• Jackson Brougher (Doloromics Inc, Menlo Park, USA) “Negative allosteric modulation of GPCRs in spinal projection cells and interneurons”
• Ben Title (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) “The Guardians of Passage: adaptive changes in the output from the first nociceptive neural network”
• David Zimmermann (Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria) "Biophysical Essentials; a full stack open-source software framework for conserved and advanced analysis of patch-clamp recordings”
6:45 -7:45 pm Aperitivo (get-together in the main lobby at ground level, with food and drink)
MONDAY, 20 May, 2024
8:30- 9:30 am Session #5 “Keratinocytes and Pain” Cheryl Stucky (Chair)
• Matthieu Talagas (University of Western Brittany and Brest University Hospital, Brest, France) “Neuro-keratinocyte synapses”
• Stephanie Puig (University of Massachusetts, USA) “Involvement of keratinocytes and platelet-derived growth factor receptor signaling in peripheral opioid tolerance”
• Daniela Maria Menichella (Northwestern University, USA) “Non-neuronal cells and cutaneous afferent communication in painful diabetic neuropathy”
• Nurcan Üçeyler (University Hospital Würzburg, Germany) “The Neuro-cutaneous Unit; the role of skin in pain”
9:30-10:15 am Data blitz #4 Cheryl Stucky (Chair)
• Diana Bautista (UC Berkeley, USA) “Neurocutaneous plasticity after spinal cord injury”
• Michael Caterina (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA) “Pain mechanisms in hereditary skin diseases”
• Cheryl Stucky (Medical College of Wisconsin, USA) “Keratinocytes actively drive input for neuropathic pain”
• Alfonso Romero-Sandoval (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, USA) “ER stress in immune cells in the context of CIPN”
• Hanneke Willemen (UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands) "IgG from Long-COVID patients induces sensory hypersensitivity in mice"
• Samiha Shaikh (University of Cambridge, UK) “Unravelling Genetic Predisposition in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1”
10:15 - 11:00 am Coffee break
11:00 am - 12:00 pm Session #6 “GPCR Signaling and Beyond” Daniela Salvemini/Andrea Hohmann (Co-Chairs)
• Andrea Hohmann (Indiana University Bloomington, USA) “A brain impermeant inhibitor of monoacylglycerol lipase suppresses neuropathic pain through a CB2 receptor mechanism without producing tolerance or physical dependence”
• Daniele Piomelli (University of California Irvine, USA) “A lipid signaling mechanism that gates the progression to pain chronicity”
• Amynah Pradhan (Washington University, St. Louis, USA) “Delta opioid receptors as a therapeutic target for headache disorders”
• Daniela Salvemini (St. Louis University School of Medicine, USA) “Spinal roles of the GPCR P2Y14 in neuropathic pain”
• Jason McDougall (Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada) “Protease activated receptors and arthritis pain”
12:00-12:30 pm Data Blitz #5 Jeffrey Mogil (Chair)
• Venetia Zachariou (Boston University, USA) “Modulation of sensory hypersensitivity by G protein complexes in models of neuropathic pain”
• Catherine Cahill (UCLA, USA) “Chronic pain enhances acquisition of remifentanil self-administration in a sex dependent manner”
• Lucia Hipolito (University of Valencia, Spain) “Previous exposure to morphine self-administration prevents pain-induced increase of alcohol intake in female rat”
• Martin Löffler (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany) “Learning-related neural predictors of the development and treatment of chronic pain”
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #7 “Sex Differences and Pain” Jeffrey Mogil (Chair)
• Jeffrey Mogil (McGill University, Montreal, Canada) “Pain, Sex, and Pavlov’s Dog”
• Jessica Higginbotham and Jose Moron-Concepcion (Washington University, St. Louis, USA) “Sex-specific effects of pain on fentanyl self-administration and the role of ovarian hormones”
• Joyce T. Da Silva (University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA) “Sex differences in pain and treatment outcomes: a whole-brain functional MRI analysis”
• Michael W. Salter (University of Toronto, Canada) “Sex differences, and similarities, in a model of peripheral neuropathic pain”
3:00- 4:00 pm Session #8 “Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain” Susanne Becker (Chair)
• Emanuel van den Broeke (KU Leuven, Health Psychology, Belgium) “Is the susceptibility to develop central sensitization predictive for persistent post-surgical pain?”
• Susanne Becker (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany) “Psychobiological mechanisms of the intersection of reward and pain processing; a route to chronic pain?”
• Anne-Marie Heegaard (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) “Pain in malignant and non-malignant bone disorders”
• Chelsea Hopkins (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) “Pain in Fibrous Dysplasia; identifying nociceptive mechanisms in a preclinical model”
4:00- 4:45 pm Coffee break
4:45- 5:45 pm Session #9 “Pain in Development” Maria Fitzgerald (London, UK, Chair)
• Simon Beggs (Inst Child Health, London, UK) “The impact of early life injury on social behaviour”
• Rebeccah Slater (Univ. of Oxford, UK) “Developing pain vulnerability in early life”
• Lorenzo Fabrizi (UCL, London, UK) “Maturation of cortical pain processing in preterm infants”
• Artur Kania (McGill Univ, Montreal, Canada) “Developmental insights into the function of spinal projection neurons”
5:45- 6:05 pm Data blitz #6 Maria Fitzgerald (Chair)
• Judy Yoo (University of Cincinnati, USA) “Early life injury alters spinal astrocyte development”
• Stephanie Koch (UCL, London, UK) “Plasticity in sensorimotor circuits”
• Nynke van den Hoogen (University of Calgary, Canada) “Neonatal pain and opioids; life-long effects on nociception”
TUESDAY, 21 May, 2024
8:30- 9:30 am Session #10 “Human Nociceptor Physiology, Pathology, and Signaling” Ted Price (Chair)
• Rob Gereau (Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA) “Human nociceptor physiology and patch-seq”
• Angelika Lampert (RWTH Aachen University, Germany) “A molecular marker for human sleeping nociceptors determined by Patch-Seq”
• Heike Rittner (University Hospital Wuerzburg, Germany) “Neuronal pathology in the human DRG after brachial avulsion and its relation to pain”
• Patrick Dougherty (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA) “Mechanisms of spontaneous activity in human nociceptors”
9:30- 10:30 am Session #11 “Insights into Pain Mechanisms from Studies of Human Tissue” Rob Gereau (Chair)
• Will Renthal (Harvard Medical School, USA) “Harmonized cross-species atlases of trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia"
• Esther Pogatzki-Zahn (University Muenster, Germany) “Human skin and blood proteomics after incision/postsurgical pain”
• Steve Davidson (University of Cincinnati, USA) “GPCR signaling in human nociceptors”
• Diana Tavares-Ferreira (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) “mRNA localization in human peripheral axons”
10:30 - 11:15 am Coffee break
11:15-12:30 pm Data Blitz #7 “Insights into Pain Mechanisms from Studies of Human Tissue” Rob Gereau (Chair)
• Ted Price (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) “Molecular pathology in the human DRG linked to diabetic neuropathic pain”
• Emmanuel Bourinet (Montpellier University, France) "T-type calcium channel functional characterisation in human DRG"
• Jimena Perez-Sanchez (University of Oxford, UK) “Assessing neuropathic changes in primary afferent excitability using human iPSC-derived nociceptors”
• Harrison Stratton (University of Arizona and University of Pittsburgh, USA) “Sexual dimorphism in human nociceptors”
• Deborah Schechtman (University of São Paulo, Brazil) "Exploring phospholipase C gamma as a key player in inflammatory pain"
• Martina Morchio (University of Sheffield, UK) "Molecular changes linked with neuropathic pain in human lingual neuromas"
• Behrang Sharif (McGill University, Montreal, Canada) “Cellular heterogeneity in human DRGs: what do we learn from ATAC and Long-Read sequencing”
• Herta Flor (Heidelberg University, Germany) "A mechanism-based approach to the prevention of chronic pain and its co-morbid mental disorders"
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #12 “Visceral Pain Mechanisms” Nick Spencer and Stuart Brierley (Co-Chairs)
• Lori Birder (University of Pittsburgh, USA) “PNPase inhibition- an effective approach for the treatment of visceral pain”
• Edita Navratilova (University of Arizona, USA) “Mechanisms of endometrial pain”
• David Bulmer (University of Cambridge, UK) “GPR35 as a target for the treatment of visceral pain”
• Nicolas Cenac (Inserm UMR1220 Digestive Health Research Institute, Toulouse, France) “Microbiota-sensory nerve interactions: towards mechanisms in visceral pain”
3:00 - 3:45 Data Blitz #8 Nick Spencer and Stuart Brierley (Co-Chairs)
• Nathalie Vergnolle (INSERM U1220 Digestive Health Research Institute, Toulouse, France) “Epithelial signals in pain associated with inflammatory bowel diseases”
• James Bayrer (University of California San Francisco, USA) “Gut sensory epithelial cells modulate visceral pain”
• Ursula Wesselmann (University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA) “Translational opportunities; chronic visceral pain syndromes in the context of co-morbid pain conditions”
• Stuart Brierley (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Australia) “New aspects on the mechanisms underlying chronic visceral pain”
• Nick Spencer (Flinders University, Australia) “Does the vagus nerve encode visceral pain signals from lower abdominal organs?”
3:45-4:30 pm Coffee break
4:30-5:30 pm Session #13 “Osteoarthritis/Joint Pain” Ewan St. John Smith (Chair)
• Eva Kosek (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, and Uppsala University, Sweden) “The neuroimmune interface in OA pain"
• Niels Eijkelkamp (University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands) “Targeting the immune system to control OA pain”
• Rachel Miller (Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, USA) “Mechanical aspects of osteoarthritis pain”
• Ewan St. John Smith (University of Cambridge, UK) “Driving and controlling joint pain”
5:30-6:30 pm Data Blitz #9 - Ewan St. John (Chair):
• David Walsh (University of Nottingham, UK) “OA pain: mechanisms informing symptoms”
• Jason Ivanusic (University of Melbourne, Australia) “Neural mechanisms of bone pain; tools for exploring the structure and function of nerves in bone”
• Shao-Jun Tang (Stony Brook University, USA) “Pathogenic mechanism of HIV-associated pain”
• Nils Simon (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden) “Characterization of the antinociceptive effect of baricitinib in the collagen antibody-induced arthritis mouse model”
• Sophie Pezet (Laboratory ‘Physics for Medicine’, INSERM, ESPCI-PSL, France) “New insights in migraine physiopathology using ultrafast ultrasound imaging”
• Anne Baron (IPMC, Université Cote d'Azur, Sophia Antipolis, France) "Decreased expression of phosphodiesterase 2A rescues inflammatory cutaneous hypersensitivity defect associated with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability in a mice model of Fragile X Syndrome"
• Earl Carstens (University of California, Davis, USA) "Role of substance P in descending modulation of itch and pain"
• Manuela Schmidt (University of Vienna, Austria) “Proteome-based systems biology to explore age and sex differences in neuropathic pain”
WEDNESDAY, 22 May, 2024
8:30-9:30 am Session #14 "The NaV1.7 Dilemma; To Target or Not to Target, That is the Question" Rajesh Khanna (Chair)
• David Bennett (University of Oxford, UK) "Genetic basis of inherited painful channelopathies"
• Sulayman Dib-Hajj (Yale University, USA) "Spatial and temporal regulation of Nav1.7 channels in sensory neurons by inflammatory mediators"
• Rajesh Khanna (University of Florida, USA) "NaV1.7 under siege: CRMP2-Ubc9 inhibition shines as the promising path to pain relief"
• Irina Vetter (University of Queensland, Australia) "Pain-causing Stinging Nettle toxins target TMEM233 to modulate NaV1.7 function"
9:30-10:30 am Session #15 - "Sodium Channels and Pain" - John Mulcahy (Chair)
• John Mulcahy (SiteOne, USA) "Nav1.7 state-independent inhibitors: translation of preclinical findings to the clinic"
• David Hackos (Genentech, USA) “Nav1.7 inhibitors in the clinic: what we've learned, why it's hard, and the path forward”
• Darrell Henze (Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA) "Clinical dose prediction and MOA studies for Nav1.8 inhibitors to treat pain"
• John Mulcahy (SiteOne, USA) Panel discussion- speakers and audience
10:30 - 11:15 am Coffee break
11:15-12:15 pm Session #16 Neuroimmune Axis and Pain Shafaq Sikandar (Chair)
• Thiago Cunha (Center for Research in Inflammatory Diseases CRID- University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) “Meningeal innate lymphocyte ILC-2 drives neuropathic pain”
• Iain Chessell (AstraZeneca, UK) “Efficacy and safety of MEDI7352, an anti-NGF, anti-TNF bispecific in painful diabetic neuropathy”
• Luda Diatchenko (McGill University, Canada) “Contribution of neutrophils to fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions”
• Camilla Svensson (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) “Neuroimmune interactions in the skin and DRG in fibromyalgia”
12:15 – 12:30 pm – Data blitz #10
• Margot Maurer (King’s College London, UK) “Immune contribution to pathological pain mechanisms in fibromyalgia”
• Zerina Kurtovic (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) “Exploring novel macrophage and neutrophil-associated mechanisms in autoantibody-induced pain”
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 – 3:00 pm Session #17 “Neuroimmune Axis and Pain” Camilla Svensson (Chair)
• Shafaq Sikandar (Queen Mary University of London, UK) “Immunological basis of nociplastic pain states”
• Mathilde Israel (King’s College London, UK) “Sensory afferent abnormalities in passive-transfer of fibromyalgia”
• Sebastien Talbot (Queen’s University, Canada; Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) “Opioid-producing B-cells silence tumor-infiltrating neurons
• Javier Aguilera-Lizarraga (University of Cambridge, UK) “Neuroimmune interactions triggered by psychological stress lead to food-induced abdominal pain”
3:00-4:00 pm Session #18 “Cortical Circuits and Pain I” Jing Wang (Chair)
• Jing Wang (New York University, USA) “Cortical mechanisms and neuromodulation”
• Markus Ploner (Technical University of Munich, Germany) “Neuronal oscillations and connectivity in human pain processing”
• Patrick Sheets (Indiana University, USA) “Dissecting cellular-circuit disruption of defined mPFC neurons in mouse models of pain”
• Gerald Zamponi (University of Calgary, Canada) “Optogenetic dissection of neocortical pain pathways”
4:00-4:45 pm Coffee Break
4:45-6:00 pm Session #19 “Cortical Circuits and Pain II” Rohini Kuner (Chair)
• Rohini Kuner (Heidelberg University, Germany) “Exploiting neocortical circuits for pain relief”
• Carl Saab (Cleveland Clinic, USA) “From ocular pain in mice to personalized pain medicine and AI: A translational journey”
• Philippe Séguéla (McGill University, Canada) “New insights on dysregulated dopaminergic signaling in neuropathic ACC”
• Thomas Nevian (University of Bern, Switzerland) “Cortical signatures of analgesia”
• Vania Apkarian (Northwestern University, USA) “Neuropsychology of long-term opioid exposure in chronic pain”
THURSDAY, 23 May, 2024
8:30-9:30 am Session #20 “Amygdala and Pain I Volker Neugebauer (Chair)
• Yarimar Carrasquillo (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA) “Divergent amygdala circuits for somatosensory and affective components of pain”
• Greg Scherrer (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA) “Neural circuits and therapeutics for pain unpleasantness and its cognitive modulation”
• Nitsan Goldstein (McGovern Institute, MIT, Cambridge, USA) “Amygdala control of the emotional aspect of pain”
• Fusao Kato (Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan) “Attempt to whole-brain visualization of pain-associated neurons and their networks”
9:30- 10:30 am Session 21: Amygdala and Pain II Yarimar Carrasquillo (Chair)
• Ipek Yalcin (CNRS, University of Strasbourg, France) “Cingulate cortex; crossroads between amygdala and habenula”
• Shashank Dravid (Texas A&M University, USA) “Glutamate delta 1 and autophagy mechanisms in the central amygdala in chronic pain”
• Gregory Corder (University of Pennsylvania, USA) “Nociceptive amygdala-striatal circuits for pain aversion”
• Marta Ceko (University of Colorado Boulder, USA) “Distributed processing of pain and negative affect in the human brain"
10:30 - 11:15 am Coffee break
11:15 - 12:00 pm Data Blitz #11 “Amygdala and Pain” Volker Neugebauer (Chair)
• Volker Neugebauer (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, USA) “Amygdala neuroplasticity and neuroimmune signaling”
• Guangchen Ji (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, USA) “Opposing functions of mu and kappa opioid receptor neurons in the amygdala in neuropathic pain”
• Benedict Kolber (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) ”A computational approach to integrate amygdala data across cell types"
• Nick Gilpin (LSUHSC, New Orleans, USA) “Chronic alcohol produces long-term hyperalgesia associated with amygdala circuit function”
• Mike Burman (University of New England, USA) “Sex-dependent changes in central nucleus of the amygdala neuropeptide expression following early-life pain”
12:00 - 12:30 pm Data Blitz #12
• Dale George (Doloromics Inc, Menlo Park, USA) “Identification of a high-affinity mTOR binder leading to specific protein degradation and reduced neuronal excitability”
• Letizia Marvaldi (Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi, Orbassano, Italy) “Importin alpha3 controls age-dependent axonal branching by modulating ribosomal protein expression”
• Ichrak Drissi (University of Cambridge, UK) “Congenital insensitivity to pain or Midface Toddler Excoriation Syndrome? A matter of PRDM12 polyalanine tract expansion”
• Andrea Furlan (University of Toronto, Canada) “Results of a randomized controlled trial of opioid tapering for chronic pain”
12:30 - 2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #22 Spinal and Ascending Brain Circuits” Reza Sharif (Chair)
• Allan Basbaum (University of California San Francisco, USA) “Anesthetized vs. awake recording provides a new view of the labeled line question”
• Sam Myung-chul Noh (University of Pittsburgh, USA) “Mechanical allodynia circuitry within a cross species, cell type atlas for therapeutic applications”
• Charles Warwick (University of Pittsburgh, USA) “A population view of somatosensory integration”
• Andrew Bell (University of Glasgow, UK) “Deep sequencing of Phox2a nuclei reveals five classes of anterolateral system neurons”
3:00 – 4:00 pm Session #23 "Spinal Circuits” David Hughes (Chair)
• Haoyi Qiu (McGill University, Canada) "Parvalbumin gates chronic pain by modulating the firing patterns of inhibitory neurons"
• David Hughes (University of Glasgow, UK) “Presynaptic control of C-fibre low-threshold mechanoreceptor afferents”
• Mark Gradwell (Rutgers University, USA) “Tactile sensitivity scaling by the dorsal column nuclei"
• Martyn Goulding (Salk Institute, USA) "Mechanical allodynia: the dorsal column nuclei revisited"
4:00 - 4:45 pm Coffee break
4:45 - 5:45 pm Session #24 “Neuropeptides and Pain” Marc Landry and Bradley Taylor (Co-Chairs)
• Debbie Hay (University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand) “Amylin and CGRP in migraine”
• Greg Dussor (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) “Peptides in the meninges; potential roles in migraine”
• Marc Landry (University of Bordeaux, CNRS , France) “Relaxin 3-mediated analgesia in ACC and BLA”
• Brad Taylor (University of Pittsburgh, USA) “NPY and Y1 receptors in parabrachial nucleus”
5:45- 6:30 pm Data blitz #13 Marc Landry (Chair)
• Nick Betley (University of Pennsylvania, USA) “A parabrachial hub for the prioritization of survival behavior”
• Carol Kopruszinski (University of Arizona, USA)/Tharani Chessell (AstraZeneca, UK) "PAR2 as a therapeutic target for migraine"
• Juliana Geremias Chichorro (Federal University of Parana, Brazil) "Contribution of Cav3.2 to migraine-related responses in vivo and in vitro"
• Daniel Castro (Washington University, St. Louis, USA) "Endogenous enkephalin peptide in dorsal raphe nucleus regulates aversion sensitivity"
• Dustin Green (University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, USA) “A role for MRGPRs in pain”
• Lauriane Delay (Physics for Medicine / NeuroDol, France) “Functional connectivity changes in preclinical models of migraine using a new approach of neuroimaging: functional ultrasound imaging”
FRIDAY, 24 May, 2024
8:30- 9:30 am Session #25 “What Brain Imaging Can Teach Us About Human Pain and Pain Modulation” - Marco Loggia (Chair)
• Luke Henderson (University of Sydney, Australia) “Human brainstem imaging of pain and pain modulation”
• Ulrike Bingel (University Medicine Essen, Germany) “Different mechanisms underlying placebo analgesia and translational implications”
• Karin Jensen (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden) “Brain representations of pain among individuals with self-injury behavior”
• Marco Loggia (Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA) “Pain, the pandemic, and brain inflammation”
9:30-10:15 am Data Blitz #14 Marco Loggia (Chair)
• Zeynab Alshelh (University of Sydney, Australia) "Can presurgical brain inflammation predict recovery from total knee replacement?"
• Joe Taylor (King's College London, UK) “Using functional MRI and psychophysics to investigate ascending and descending pain modulation pathways''
• Kevin Keay (University of Sydney, Australia) “Position-emission tomography imaging of glial reactivity in a preclinical model of orofacial neuropathic pain”
• Lewis Crawford (University of Sydney, Australia) “Assessing the behavioural consistency and neural activation of placebo analgesia responses across time"
• Andrew Marshall (University of Liverpool, UK) “Signaling of mechanical pain in the human anterolateral pathway”
10:15- 11:00 am – Coffee break
11:00- 12:00 pm Session #26 “Translational Challenges of Bringing Optogenetics to Pain Therapy” Marie-Eve Paquet (Chair)
• Oscar Solis (National Institute of Health, USA) “Optogenetic tools adapted to translational and future clinical applications”
• Marie-Eve Paquet (CERVO Brain Research Centre, Université Laval, Canada) “Challenges in viral-based gene transfer therapy for pain”
• Isabelle Aubert (Sunnybrook Research Institute, University of Toronto, Canada) “Focused ultrasound as a strategy for targeted gene delivery through the blood-brain barrier”
• Michael Joel Kessler (Trinity College, University of Toronto, Canada) “How to address life and personality-altering implications of optogenetics”
12:00- 12:30 pm Data Blitz #15 Marie-Eve Paquet (Chair)
• Aubin Moutal (St. Louis University, USA) “Space and time controlled gene editing to understand pain”
• Sanggon Kim (Université Laval, Canada) “Micro-lensed fiber optic probe for single cell optogenetics in vivo”
• Paschalina Chrysostomidou (University of Glasgow, UK) "Developing novel viral vectors to facilitate gene therapies for neuropathic pain"
12:30-2:00 pm Free for Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session #27 “Psychophysical Exploration of Pain” Kristian Petersen (Chair)
• Lucy Zhao (King's College London, UK) “Assessing pain and neurodiversity in persistent rheumatoid arthritis”
• Daniel Segelcke (University of Münster, Germany) “Advances in QST: bridging preclinical and clinical research for effective pain phenotyping”
• Laura Sirucek (Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland) “The association of pressure pain thresholds with periaqueductal gray neurotransmitters and its absence in chronic pain”
• Kristian Petersen (Aalborg University, Denmark) "Variability in QST findings and how we can utilize this in patients chronic pain"
3:00 – 3:30 pm Data Blitz #16 Kristian Petersen (Chair)
• Giulia Liberati (Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium) “Modulation of pain-related oscillations recorded from the human insula using intracerebral EEG”
• Thomas Graven-Nielsen (Aalborg University, Denmark) “The relevance of cortical homeostatic plasticity in the nociceptive system”
• Zachary Campbell (University of Wisconsin, USA) "The role of a conserved translation factor kinase in nociception"
3:30- 4:15 pm Coffee Break
4:15 -5:15 pm Session #28 “Mechanical Nociception” Saad Nagi (Chair)
• Wenqin Luo (University of Pennsylvania, USA) “Single-soma deep RNA-seq of human DRG neurons”
• Saad Nagi (Linköping University, Sweden) “Human Aβ-nociceptor subtypes and functions”
• Oumie Thorell (Western Sydney University, Australia and Linköping University, Sweden) "Pain and withdrawal reflex responses in humans"
• David Mahns (Western Sydney University, Australia) “Selective activation of human muscle spindle afferents; experimental and clinical studies”
5:15-6:15 pm Session #29 “Chloride-Gate; The Next Impeachment!” Yves De Koninck (Chair)
• Yves De Koninck (Université Laval, Québec, Canada) “KCC2, through the keyhole of the chloride-gate”
• Francesco Ferrini (Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy) “Chloride control: lady-gate vs. male-gate”
• Wendy Imlach (Monash University, Australia) “Chloride-gate across species”
• Shilpa Kadam, PhD (Axonis Therapeutics Inc., Boston, USA) “Targeting the chloride-gate for therapeutics”
END OF CONFERENCE
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