Sandra J. Poulson is a PhD candidate in Behavioral Neuroscience under Dr. Loren Martin. Sandra earned a B.S. in Biology and a M.A. in STEM Education from the University of Texas at Austin, she worked at Stanford University as research staff, then earned a M.A. in Psychology from the University of Toronto. Using a mouse model of socially enhanced pain, Sandra studies neural mechanisms of contextual pain facilitation. The social context is rich with information, including whether danger is nearby. Interestingly, in both humans and rodents, behaviors indicating pain in others can enhance our own pain experience. Yet the brain regions and peptide signals that drive this phenomenon are unknown. Uncovering mechanisms behind contextually and socially enhanced pain will lead to a better understanding of factors that worsen pain for some chronic pain patients, as well as deepen our knowledge of social aspects of the biopsychosocial model of pain.
