Opportunities to be involved in research
The following studies are actively recruiting participants:
Current projects
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Investigating the role of the kynurenine pathway in irreversible pulpitis
The kynurenine pathway is responsible for the catabolism of the essential amino acid kynurenine. This pathway has been linked to acute and chronic pain in animal models of viral infections. Research by the team has shown upregulation of this pathway in pulpititis (toothache) and it appears to be pushing the pathway towards neuroinflammation and pain.…
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Investigating the role of the histamine system in chronic pain
Histamine, acting through all four types of histamine H1-H4 receptors, is arguably the most pleiotropic molecule in the human body. Since the cloning of H3R in 1999, there has been an increased interest within the pharmaceutical industry to discover and develop ligands to this receptor to target several diseases including neuropathic pain. However, while evidence…
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EXTIRPATE study: Irreversible Pulpitis
Dental pain mechanisms remain poorly understood. Outcomes from current approaches to managing acute dental pain are suboptimal. EXTIRPATE focusses on developing a biological model to better understand peripheral and central pain mechanisms, explore the effect of current approaches on these mechanisms and investigate new treatment approaches.
Our Research Themes
Mechanisms and pathways of pain
Our work aims to understand how and why acute and persistent pain is experienced in painful conditions such as toothache, persistent facial pain, and neuropathic pain.
Pain therapeutics and clinical trials
In this research theme, our work explores new targets to treat painful conditions and assesses the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of clinical treatments.
Pain diagnostics
This work aims to improve on the current methods that clinicians have to diagnose pain conditions, and to measure and assess people’s experience of pain.
Applied pain research
Our research uses innovative clinical research, integrating multidisciplinary perspectives, to explore how best to help people who suffer from painful conditions.
Our Collaborators
Academic collaborators
- Osaka University, Japan
- University of Minnesota, MN, USA
- Aarhus University, Denmark
- University of Liverpool, UK
- University of Sheffield, UK
- University of Leeds, UK
- University of Manchester, UK
- Durham University, UK
Industrial collaborators
We work with several companies in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors.