2nd Northeast Pain Conference

Northeast Pain Research Conference
Location: Hiebert Lounge at the Instructional Building (L Building)*
Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston University
72 East Concord Street, Floor 14,
Boston, MA 02118

 

Founders/Organizers:

Victoria Abraira, PhD Rutgers University

Venetia Zachariou, PhD Boston

Ishmail Abdus Saboor, Phd Columbia University Zuckerman Institute

 

Saturday- October 26th

9:30AM- Arrivals, check-in, and breakfast (provided by Boston University)
Speakers please upload talks for the day at the podium.

10:00 AM Opening remarks by NE Pain Conference Organizers

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM Seminar: Clifford Woolf, MD, PhD (Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital)

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM “Molecular Mechanisms of Mechanosensation”
Moderator: Tibor Rohacs (Rutgers University)

  • Matthew Gabrielle (Rutgers University): Phosphatidic acid is an endogenous negative regulator of PIEZO2 channels and mechanical sensitivity
  • Caitlin Madden (National Institutes of Health): Chemically targeting touch: Engineering the PIEZO2 ion channel to respond to an agonist
  • Celine Santiago (Harvard Medical School): Activity-dependent maturation of touch sensory neurons
  • Rebecca Greenberg (Yale University): Cold adaptation of mechanosensation in a mammalian hibernator
  • Ke Tan (Yale University): Convergence of tactile encoding mechanisms between aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates

Q&A at the end of the talks

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM Lunch provided by Boston University

1:15 PM – 2:00 PM “Ion Channel and neuroimmune mechanisms”
Moderator: Michael Caterina (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Carter Burton (Rutgers University): Discerning the neuronal mechanism by which TRPM3 inhibition contributes to opioid-induced pruritus
  • Aakanksha Jain (Boston Children’s Hospital): Nociceptor-immune interactomes reveal immune drivers of pain and its resolution
  • Rasheen Powell (Boston Children’s Hospital): Ank-ering Nav Channels: Inhibition of Nav-Channel/ Ankyrin binding rescues pain-like behaviors in models of neuropathic pain

Q&A at the end of the talks

15 minute break

2:15 PM – 3:15 PM “Pain Circuit Modulation”
Moderator: Victoria Abraira (Rutgers University)

  • Rakshita Balaji (National Institutes of Health): A genetic strategy to suppress neuropeptide signaling from nociceptors
  • Mark Gradwell (Rutgers University): Receptor-Based Neural Profiling: Uncovering the Role of 5HT6R+ Commissural Neurons in Sensory Processing
  • Manon Bohic (Rutgers University): Spinal cord oxytocin circuits modulate pain responses by engaging circuits of affective touch
  • Aman Upadhyay (Rutgers University): The Dorsal Column Nuclei Scale Mechanical Sensitivity in Naive and Neuropathic Pain States

Q&A at the end of the talks

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM Seminar: Fan Wang, PhD (MIT)

4:15 PM – 5:30 PM “Specialized Pain Conditions”
Moderators: Yi Ye (NYU) and Vanessa Chrepa (Rutgers University)

  • Zhiting Gong (NYU) An investigation into the role of Schwann cell LRP1 in the regulation of orofacial pain
  • Paulina Ramirez Garcia (New York University): The role of the protease-activated receptor 2 in oral cancer pain
  • Xiaojie Shi (New York University): EGFR sensitization of trigeminal NMDAR in oral cancer pain and morphine analgesia tolerance
  • Tariq Cannonier (University of Pennsylvania): Investigating Corneal Sensory Afferents in Dry Eye Disease
  • Suyeon Kim (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine): Pain hypersensitivity in hereditary Palmoplantar Keratoderma mouse models

Q&A at the end of the talks

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM First day wrap up and walk to dinner.

Sunday- October 27th

9AM- Arrivals and breakfast (Breakfast provided by the Rutgers Cell Biology and Neuroscience Department)
Speakers please upload talks for the day at the podium.

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM Seminar: Jeff Mogil (McGill University)

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM “Mechanisms of Neuropathic Pain”
Moderator: Vanna Zachariou (Boston University)

  • Glenda Smerin (Boston University) G protein Signaling Pathways with a Female Specific Role in Sensory Hypersensitivity and Behavioral Responses to Opioids
  • Veselina Petrova (Boston Children’s Hospital): Discovery of small molecule neuroprotectants against axon degeneration and chronic pain
  • Arlene George (Rutgers University): The role of corticostriatal circuits in neuropathic pain
  • Daniel Taub (Boston Children’s Hospital): Genetic insights into age-dependent small fiber neuropathies
  • Georgios Kimourtzis (Boston Children’s Hospital) A microfluidic model of the first pain synapse for analgesic target discovery”

Q&A at the end of the talks

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM “Innovative Approaches in Pain Research”
Moderator: Clifford Woolf (Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School)

  • Yijing Gong (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine): A synthetic biology approach to redirect pro-hyperalgesic signaling to anti-hyperalgesic signaling outcomes
  • Justin Burdge (Rutgers University): Benefits of Pain Behavior Assay Automation
  • Evangelia Semizoglou (Brigham and Women’s Hospital)- Trigeminal System Transcriptomics
  • Shamsuddin Bhuiyan (Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School): Harmonized cross-species cell atlases of trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia

Q&A at the end of the talks

12:30 PM – 1:00 PM Lunch provided by the Rutgers Center on Research in Pain and Pain Therapeutics (CRPPT)

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Career Panel Discussion
F31, F32, K99 awardees, Assistant, Associate, Full Professors, Chairs

2PM: Group Photo and Departure