Jimena Perez Sanchez

I am interested the mechanisms by which the spinal cord can select somatosensory information that is relevant to navigate in the natural world, in normal and pathological conditions. My research focuses on the neural circuits that drive painful stimuli; from the activation of sensory neurons in the periphery, to descending pathways that modulate this information in the spinal cord. The spinal cord is an ideal system to study plastic changes that occur after injury because it is a relatively simple neural circuit, with direct input from sensory neurons and a measurable output. While a ‘taxonomic’ neurophysiological characterisation of different neuronal subpopulations may yield important insights, it also requires the understanding of how information is processed within these circuits. 

I use electrophysiology, but also imaging and behavioural assays, to study the impact of changes in sensory afferents and dorsal horn neurons in the spinal cord. I believe that the combination of two-photon microscopy with electrophysiology can give powerful insight into the mechanisms of spinal cord plasticity in normal and pathological conditions.