Editor’s note: This is the fifth 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 our 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 hosted a seminar with Benedict Kolber, PhD, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, US, on Monday, June 1, 2020, noon–1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (US)/5-6 p.m. BST/6-7 p.m. CEST. A Q&A session was moderated by Yarimar Carrasquillo, PhD, NCCIH, NIH, US, after the main presentation.
- Benedict Kolber, PhD, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, US
- Yarimar Carrasquillo, PhD, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Bethesda, US
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. Kolber:
In this seminar, I provided an overview of the amygdala in the context of both acute/chronic nociception in rodents all the way through to chronic pain maintenance in human patients. Historical data have demonstrated that the amygdala has a bi-directional impact on descending pain control. Recent cell-type specific experiments have provided molecular detail never before possible on the pro- and anti-nociceptive role of the amygdala. Simultaneously, human imaging experiments have provided a structural foundation to interpret molecular findings. This seminar sought to introduce these data for those new to the amygdala while providing synthesis across studies for experts in the field.
About the presenter
Benedict J. Kolber, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Duquesne University. He is the Research and Education Coordinator in the Duquesne Chronic Pain Research Consortium and is an adjunct Core Faculty member in the University of Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research and Neurobiology Department. The Kolber lab studies 1) the role of the limbic system in the development and maintenance of chronic pain in rodents 2) novel natural product sources for pain drug discovery, and 3) non-pharmacological approaches, including exercise and meditation, to treat musculoskeletal pain. Dr. Kolber completed graduate and postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis, including working in the Pain Center with Dr. Robert Gereau IV. Dr. Kolber is the recipient of awards and grants from the American Pain Society, the International Association for the Study of Pain, and the National Institutes of Health.
About the moderator
Yarimar Carrasquillo, PhD, is a principal investigator at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She directs a multidisciplinary research program aimed at delineating the mechanisms underlying the modulation of pain-related behaviors in the brain, with a focus on the central amygdala. Dr. Carrasquillo was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she received her BS in biology from the University of Puerto Rico. She then moved to Texas and obtained her PhD in neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine, where she started her career in pain research in the lab of Dr. Robert Gereau. She focused her postdoctoral training on cellular physiology in the lab of Dr. Jeanne Nerbonne at Washington University School of Medicine and joined the NIH as a tenure-track investigator in 2014. In addition to being passionate about pain research, she is also committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in science.
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.
