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The Pain Analgesia/Anaesthesia Imaging Neuroscience group is a multidisciplinary team of scientists and clinicians. We research how the human central nervous system generates and modulates painful experiences in acute and chronic settings.

The problem of pain

The ability to experience pain is old and shared across species. It confers an evolutionary advantage and provides a warning of harm or impending threat. However, when it becomes chronic, as it does in approximately 20% of the adult population with significant suffering and cost implications for society it is no longer advantageous and can ruin lives. See Pain in Europe and Relieving Pain in America

Our research

Our group explores how the human brain and spinal cord process nociceptive signals to produce painful experiences using advanced neuroimaging techniques. We want also to understand how analgesics and states of consciousness during anaesthesia influence painful experiences and impact perception. Read more about our research.

 

Selected publications

The dorsal posterior insula subserves a fundamental role in human pain

Journal article

Segerdahl AR. et al, (2015), Nature Neuroscience, 18, 499 - 500

Slow-Wave Activity Saturation and Thalamocortical Isolation During Propofol Anesthesia in Humans

Journal article

Ní Mhuircheartaigh R. et al, (2013), Science Translational Medicine, 5

Baseline reward circuitry activity and trait reward responsiveness predict expression of opioid analgesia in healthy subjects

Journal article

Wanigasekera V. et al, (2012), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109, 17705 - 17710

The Effect of Treatment Expectation on Drug Efficacy: Imaging the Analgesic Benefit of the Opioid Remifentanil

Journal article

Bingel U. et al, (2011), Science Translational Medicine, 3

Identifying Brain Activity Specifically Related to the Maintenance and Perceptual Consequence of Central Sensitization in Humans

Journal article

Lee MC. et al, (2008), The Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 11642 - 11649

Imaging Attentional Modulation of Pain in the Periaqueductal Gray in Humans

Journal article

Tracey I. et al, (2002), The Journal of Neuroscience, 22, 2748 - 2752

Exacerbation of Pain by Anxiety Is Associated with Activity in a Hippocampal Network

Journal article

Ploghaus A. et al, (2001), The Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 9896 - 9903

Dissociating Pain from Its Anticipation in the Human Brain

Journal article

Ploghaus A. et al, (1999), Science, 284, 1979 - 1981