1. Cortical plasticity in the transition from acute to chronic pain *** 2. MRI and EEG studies of ongoing pain: effects on cognitive, emotional, and sensory

2017.08.07 | Helle Obenhausen Andersen

Cortical plasticity in the transition from acute to chronic pain
By Siobhan Schabrun

MRI and EEG studies of ongoing pain: effects on cognitive, emotional, and sensory networks
By David Seminowicz:

Dr Siobhan Schabrun received a Physiotherapy Honours degree from the University of South Australia and a PhD in Neuroscience from The University of Adelaide. She is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Career Development Fellow at Western Sydney University where she leads the Brain Rehabilitation and Neuroplasticity Unit. She is an Honorary Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia. Her research uses non-invasive brain stimulation techniques along with quantitative sensory testing, electroencephalography and measures of genetics and endocrine function to understand why some people develop persistent musculoskeletal pain after injury while others do not. This work involves studies using experimental pain models as well as large longitudinal prospective trials of people with pain. In addition, her work seeks to develop and test novel neuroplasticity based treatments that can improve outcomes for people living with pain. She is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship and a Young Tall Poppy Science Award.

David A. Seminowicz, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore. He received a BSc from the University of Guelph, a PhD at the University of Toronto and completed postdoctoral training at McGill University. His work has focused on the cognitive aspects of pain, individual differences in the response to pain, and the consequence of chronic pain on brain structure and function. His studies have clarified how pain-related and cognitive-related brain activity interact and how passive and active pain coping strategies affect these types of activity. His work further suggested a brain mechanism through which chronic pain might affect cognitive ability and continues testing this hypothesis in intervention studies in people with chronic pain. The clinical populations in these studies include chronic low back pain, chronic and episodic migraine, and burning mouth syndrome. Dr. Seminowicz has also used rodent MRI to ask a question that could not easily be addressed in humans, such as how the brain changes over time from before the onset of an injury that leads to chronic pain to the time when the disease affects cognitive and affective behaviors. Ongoing studies in Dr. Seminowicz’s lab employ longitudinal designs to assess how various interventions affect brain function, in human disease and rodent models. The main techniques in his lab include quantitative sensory testing, EEG, and structural and functional MRI. His main funding is from the NIH, and smaller projects are funding through intercampus initiatives, private foundations, and industry.