You're Invited: UTCSP Presents an In-Person Talk: Thomas Graven-Nielsen
You are invited to join us for a talk by Thomas Graven-Nielsen titled: MECHANISMS AND MANIFESTATIONS IN MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN –Psychophysical and Neurophysiological effects, from Experimental to Clinical Pain Settings.
When: 4-5 pm, December 4th, 2023
Where: 124 Edward Street (Faculty of Dentistry) Room 360
Pre-registration not required. We look forward to seeing you there.
PAIN talks
The Quebec Network of Junior Pain Investigators (QNJPI) is proud to organize the 8th edition of the PAINtalks, which will take place at the Zoo de Granby on November 2nd, 2023 at 18:30 p.m.
Le PAINtalks is an evening of popular conferences on the theme of pain. It is a bilingual initiative, free and open to all, which is inspired by the “TED” presentation formula. Speakers are invited to submit their candidacy to present at the evening in order to communicate their research.
The team behind PAINtalks brings together students in the field of radiation sciences and biomedical imaging, experimental surgery, rehabilitation sciences, virtual rehabilitation, health sciences and psychology.
More than 800 people signed up for the PAINtalks 2022 from all over Quebec, several other Canadian provinces, as well as other countries around the world. A simultaneous translation service was offered to everyone attending the event, in person or online. All the presentations were filmed in high definition, then made available to Internet users with English and French subtitles via our website, our YouTube channel, our Twitter account and our Facebook page.
Like last year, the PAINtalks has once again partnered with three influential networks in the field of pain at the national and international levels, either with the Canadian Pain Society (CPS), la North American Pain School (NAPS) and l’European Pain School (EPS). These partnerships will, among other things, make it possible to offer a place for two of the speakers to participate in the next edition of the CPS and the NAPS.
In addition, partnerships with chronic pain networks have expanded and solidified for the 2023 edition of the PAINtalks : L’Association québécoise de douleur chronique (AQDC),Association de soutien et d’information face à la douleur (ASID), Société québécoise de fibromyalgie (SQF), Migraine Quebec, Société québécoise de la douleur (SQD), Quebec pain research network (QPRN) and l’Association des stomisés Richelieu-Yamaska.
Date:
November 2nd, 2023
18:30 p.m.
Location:
Zoo de Granby, Quebec
National Pain Awareness Week
National Pain Awareness Week is approaching!
Visit the National Pain Awareness Week Calendar to learn more and register for all the exciting events that are being hosted by various organizations and partners. Download the Calendar PDF to find links to all events listed, simply by clicking an event on the calendar.
November 6-12, 2023
Addressing the Usage of Peripheral Nerve Stimulation as a Treatment Option for Neuropathic Pain
According to the International Association for the Study of Pain, neuropathic pain (NP) is pain that arises from lesions and/or disease of the somatosensory system.
Written by:
Vaidhehi Veena Sanmugananthan
Edited by:
Georgia Hadjis
According to the International Association for the Study of Pain, neuropathic pain (NP) is pain that arises from lesions and/or disease of the somatosensory system. NP is a global health problem that is quite costly to treat. Two treatment options that have been used to treat NP are interventional pain management (IPM) and peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS). IPM includes diagnostic/therapeutic procedures administered through the skin that aim to modify pain signals in the body. Unlike other treatments of NP, like spinal cord stimulation, thus far there are no clear guidelines outlining the role and usage of PNS for NP treatment. UTCSP investigator Dr. Anuj Bhatia and colleagues surveyed international pain experts to investigate the current perception surrounding the use of IPM and PNS as treatments for NP.
A cross-sectional online survey was circulated to NP experts worldwide (pain medicine physicians, researchers, and leaders of professional pain societies). Of the 24 that responded, the most targeted areas using PNS were the distal common peroneal tibial and the sural nerves (60%). Overall, the aggregate reported NP treatment order was 1) non-opioid medications, 2) IPM which included epidural/perineural steroid injections and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation 3) pulse radiofrequency (RF) or RF ablation/denervation, 4) temporary PNS then permanent PNS. Half of the respondents (50%) reported that they preferred to trial non-neuromodulation treatments for 1-3 months before considering PNS. The majority of respondents (92%) believe that PNS should be administered early on in treatment plans for NP. The most common barriers reported for the use of PNS were high costs, lack of evidence supporting its usage, little to no proper training programs, and overall insufficient familiarity with the treatment.
This over-arching and broad survey is a steppingstone towards further understanding the opinions, pros and cons surrounding PNS as a treatment option for NP. However, it is clear that there still needs to be more research towards understanding PNS and the outcomes of this treatment.
This over-arching and broad survey is a steppingstone towards further understanding the opinions, pros and cons surrounding PNS as a treatment option for NP.
UTCSP Translational Seminar Series | CPIN Distinguished Lecture Presents: Dr. Bushnell
You can view the talk here:
Beyond Opioids: Engaging Endogenous Pain Modulation in the Brain
Dr. M. Catherine Bushnell, PhD, is President of IASP, as well as Scientist Emerita at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Harold Griffith Professor Emerita in Anesthesia at McGill University. She holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the American University and received postdoctoral training in neurophysiology at the NIH. She was Founding Director of the McGill University Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain (2003-2009) and Director of the NCCIH Intramural Research program (2012-2020). She has received Lifetime Research Achievement Awards from the Canadian Pain Society and the American Pain Society. Her research interests include forebrain mechanisms of pain processing, psychological modulation of pain, and neural alterations in chronic pain patients.
Nonionotropic NMDA receptor activity enables reversal of pathological pain in mice
Current treatments for chronic pain tend to conceal and dampen nociceptive processing rather than target its root causes.
Written by:
Quinn Pauli
Edited by:
Georgia Hadjis
Current treatments for chronic pain tend to conceal and dampen nociceptive processing rather than target its root causes. Many forms of chronic pain are thought to involve sensitization of spinal pain networks. Sensitization of nociceptive pathways shares several mechanisms with the strengthening of neuronal pathways in the brain which gives rise to memory. Like memory traces in the brain, it has previously been shown that sensitized nociceptive pathways can be destabilized and modified upon reactivation. However, the cellular mechanisms underlying the destabilization of ‘pain memory traces’ in the spinal cord are poorly understood. UTCSP member Dr. Rob Bonin and his colleagues performed a battery of behavioural, molecular, and electrophysiological experiments in mice to study the cellular mechanisms involved in the reversal of pain hypersensitivity.
To selectively reverse mechanical hypersensitivity in commonly used mouse models of pain, the authors of this study leveraged parallels between pain and memory by focusing on a nonionotropic form of NMDA receptor-mediated signaling involved in the weakening of synaptic connections in the brain. They found that reactivating sensitized sensory pathways, while pharmacologically inducing nonionotropic NMDA receptor activity, reverses mechanical hypersensitivity. Similarly, potentiated spinal cord pathways can be reactivated and weakened ex vivo by nonionotropic NMDA receptor activity. The authors identified specific synaptic proteins that are degraded to reduce mechanical hypersensitivity upon reactivation, many of which are also degraded during memory modification.
The results of this study published in Science Advances reveal a unique signaling pathway which enables reversal of pathological pain in mice by targeting its underlying cellular causes. Ultimately, gaining a better understanding of the dynamic regulation of pathological pain could lead to new therapeutic options for treating chronic pain conditions in humans.
The results of this study published in Science Advances reveal a unique signaling pathway which enables reversal of pathological pain in mice by targeting its underlying cellular causes.
UTCSP Translational Series
We are excited to announce our upcoming Translational Seminar Series, in partnership with CPIN, IASP, and CPS
Join us on August 31st at 12pm to connect with your fellow community members and dive into a talk by Dr. Catherine Bushnell on Beyond Opioids: engaging endogenous pain modulation in the brain.
When:
Aug 31, 2023
12:00pm-2:00pm
Lunch: 12pm -1pm, Talk: 1pm - 2pm
Where:
Hart House Debates room
Virtual via zoom (1pm-2pm)
Register by:
Aug 31
Virtual via zoom registration:
Trainee Welcome Event
Thank you to everyone who came out to our trainee welcome event, and made it a great success!
Seed Grant
We are pleased to announce the UTCSP SEED GRANT opportunity!
This opportunity will provide funding for 1 year, with up to $30,000. Principal applicants must be UTCSP members with a faculty appointment to the University of Toronto who are able to hold research funds at the University of Toronto.
Priority areas include:
- Projects that address the opioid crisis.
- Interdisciplinary/cross faculty collaborative pain research.
- Pain education research.
Full information to apply: here.
Application form: here.
How to apply: Please send the application package (all documents in one PDF) to utcsp@utoronto.ca.
Deadline:
Oct 13 2023
Grant amount:
$30,000
History of the UTCSP
“The UTCSP has provided me with an unparalleled network of scientific and collegial support. It has broadened the scope and potential of my pain research to change clinical practice. In addition, the centre has provided my doctoral trainees with unique development opportunities. Taken together, the UTCSP has strengthened my ability to be a productive scientist and therefore contributed significantly to my tenure appointment.” -Dr. Craig Dale
History
The establishment of the UTCSP in 1999 was novel for that time since no such centre existed elsewhere in the world. It was also somewhat fortuitous in that the University of Toronto administration decided at this time that its different faculties and programmes needed better integration in their educational and scholarly programmes. With that in mind, it developed in the late 1990s a request to faculties for applications to establish a pioneering UofT-funded academic programme that would bring together staff and students in different faculties to engage in interfaculty/interdisciplinary educational and scholarly activities.
Also fortuitous was that the Council of Health Sciences Deans was chaired at that time by Barry Sessle, the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry who happened to be a pain researcher and President of The International Association for the Study of Pain. It also happened at that time that there was a cadre of pain clinicians, researchers, educators and trainees spread around the different UofT health science faculties and their affiliated hospitals, but there was limited collaboration and coordination of their educational and scholarly activities. Dr Sessle and several others in the UofT pain community (e.g. Drs. Jonathan Dostrovsky, Allan Gordon, David Mock, Michael Salter, Bonnie Stevens, Judy watt-Watson) realised that pain was an ideal topic for such an interdisciplinary focus as envisaged by the UofT administration and an opportunity to bring together the diverse group of pain clinicians, researcher and educators and trainees in a Centre fostering collaboration and advancement of pain education and research at UofT.
Such an approach also was in line with emerging concepts of the value of adopting a biopsychosocial approach to pain education, research and management. The cooperation and support of all the health sciences deans were gained, an application was put together and submitted, and this proposal was the one selected for the UofT funding.
Administrative History
The administrative HUB of the UTCSP is based in the Faculty of Dentistry, with an administrative structure and governance model that was developed over time. The 4 current active committees include the Executive, KT, Research, Education committees, as well as subcommittees, working groups and the IPC infrastructure. Dr. Michael Salter from the department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Sick Children’s Hospital was the first UTCSP director (2000-2009). Dr. Bonnie Stevens from the Lawrence S Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and Sick Children’s Hospital then became Director (2010-2019). Dr. Robert Bonin from the faculty of Pharmacy assumed the intern directorship role (2020). For the past 4, the UTCSP has been co-directed by Rob Bonin from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Rachel Bosma from the Faculty of Dentistry. Membership is from across campus across 7 different faculties and includes members from the Toronto academic hospitals.
Key Initiatives
For over 20 years, the UTCSP has delivered each year the Interfaculty Pain Curriculum to approximately 20,000 students from 78 different disciplines at UofT. These include Dentistry, Medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, physician assistants,
100 Members of the UTCSP contribute to this one-week educational initiative each year by helping to formulate each year’s programme, by giving lectures, or by acting as facilitators in break-out small-group sessions with students.
The UTCSP is also part of an educational initiative at UofT, The Pain Medicine Residency Program, which links residents with UTCSP scientists and supports pain training.
The UTCSP’s Annual Scientific Meeting brings together its members to learn more about the Centre’s recent activities and recent pain research findings from presentations by its members and invited external speakers.
Support of UTCSP trainees is provided through travel awards (e.g. to Canadian Pain Society annual meeting) and UTCSP Pain Scientist Awards, trainee orientation/welcome events, pain schools, professional development and training opportunities, and more. This has had a substantial impact; approximately 80% of UTCSP trainees remain in pain research today.