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
- Companies in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors
Current projects
-
New: MiTiGate trial
MiTiGate Trial: Managing chronic Myalgia Temporomandibular Disorder: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of Botulinum toxin type A, lidocaine, and amitriptyline/gabapentin, with internal pilot and cost-effectiveness analysis Plain English summary of the study Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) affect the jaw joint and its muscles in 1 in 15 people. The most common TMD is “myalgia” TMD or…
-
ELUCIDATE: Exploring pain & autonomic dysfunction in ME/CFS & TMD
Widespread pain affecting the muscles and joints is a significant problem for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and has a huge impact on their everyday activities and quality of life. While central sensitisation in the brain and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) are thought to play a role, the precise mechanisms…