Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of weekly PRF seminars to help keep the pain research community connected during the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide all members of the community with virtual educational opportunities. These seminars are funded by the Center for Advanced Pain Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, US, which we thank for its generous support.
The IASP Pain Research Forum will host a seminar with Peter Grace, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, US, on Monday, May 18, 2020, noon-1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (US)/5-6 p.m. BST/6-7 p.m. CEST. The seminar will be moderated by Anne Murphy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, US.
- Peter Grace, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, US
- Anne Murphy, PhD, Georgia State University, Atlanta, US
This seminar discussed Dr. Grace’s recent research on the effects of opioids on the duration and severity of neuropathic pain, with a focus on neuroimmune mechanisms.
A recording of this seminar will soon be freely available to IASP members at the IASP Pain Education Resource Center (PERC).
Here is an abstract from Dr. Grace:
Opioid use for pain management has dramatically increased, with little assessment of potential pathophysiological consequences for the primary pain condition. I will discuss our recent findings that a brief course of opioids, including morphine, can remarkably increase the duration and severity of neuropathic pain. Evidence will be presented that cytokines – driven by Toll-like and purinergic receptor signaling – enhance such pain. This work may reveal strategies to eliminate deleterious effects of opioids while retaining analgesia.
About the presenter
Peter M. Grace, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Symptom Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, US. The Grace lab investigates neuroinflammatory mechanisms that drive chronic pain, in order to identify new treatment strategies. Dr. Grace completed graduate training in pharmacology at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and a NHMRC CJ Martin postdoctoral fellowship in neuroimmunology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Grace is the recipient of awards from the American Pain Society, American Australian Association, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation, and grants from the NIH and Department of Defense.
About the moderator
Anne Z. Murphy, PhD, joined the faculty of Georgia State University, Atlanta, US, in 2003 and is currently a professor in the Neuroscience Institute. She received her PhD from the University of Cincinnati in 1992 under the guidance of Dr. Michael Behbehani (Department of Physiology). She then completed postdoctoral fellowships in behavioral neuroanatomy with Dr. Michael Shipley at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and in behavioral neuroendocrinology with Dr. Gert Holstege at the Rijksuniversitiet in the Netherlands. Before joining the faculty at Georgia State University, she was a research associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Murphy’s research focuses on the impact of sex and age on pain and opiate responsiveness as well as the impact of early life experience. She uses a wide variety of techniques from molecular to behavioral to elucidate the mechanisms whereby age, sex, and early life experience alter opioidergic circuits within the CNS. Her work is supported by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Murphy is an associate editor of Hormones & Behavior, and reviews grants regularly for the NIH. When not doing science, Dr. Murphy loves to hang out on the beach with her husband and kids and drink fine wine.
Join the conversation about the seminar on Twitter @PainResForum #PRFSeminar
We thank the Center for Advanced Pain Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, US, for its support of PRF’s new seminar series.
