Center for Advanced Pain Studies at UT Dallas

Huge congratulations to our 4 incredible undergraduates who took part in our Spring 3-Minute Thesis Competition! 🎓
We were so impressed by the depth and passion shown in every presentation. Each student highlighted the vital work our team is doing to better understand and treat chronic pain. 🧠💪

A massive shoutout to our winners:
🏆 First Place: Raina Karakkattil
🥈 Second Place: Bhavya Jaiswal

Both will receive a cash award for their outstanding research and delivery. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a fantastic success!

4,685 miles. One e-bike. A powerful mission. 🚲✨

Diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy in 2019, Dr. Maassen turned to e-biking to reclaim his health. In 2022, he embarked on a cross-country journey from D.C. to San Francisco to prove that e-bikes are about much more than a "lazy" ride. They are tools for mobility, empowerment, and connection.

Join us at for a special screening of Only Lazy Americans E-Bike to see his incredible journey and the communities he met along the way.

Event Details:
🗓️ Tuesday, April 28
🕠 Doors open: 5:30 PM
📍 Alamo Drafthouse
🎟️ Admission: FREE & open to the public
🍔 Bonus: Complimentary food & drinks!

Space is limited! Secure your spot at this link: utd.link/405 🔗

Huge congratulations to Sydney Lawley on her first-author publication: "Interspecies differences in the expression of cannabinoid receptors at the tissue and cellular levels." 📝

It is an incredible feat to lead a publication as an undergraduate! In this review, Sydney and her co-authors dive deep into how cannabinoid receptors are distributed throughout the nervous system across different species. 🌿🐭🧠
This publication is from PI Michael Burton's, PhD lab.
PMID: 41169214

✨ Huge congratulations to our incredible CAPS undergraduates who showcased their work at the UNT Health Student Research Spotlight!

We’re especially proud of Myra Khan for taking home the UNT Health Student Research Spotlight Award, such an amazing achievement ✨



 

🎉 Huge congratulations to Dr. Veronica Hong on graduating this semester! 🎓✨

In late June, Veronica successfully defended her dissertation:

“Sigma-2 receptor/TMEM97: The ‘Pawn’ and Power Player in Pain Across Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems.”

We’re incredibly proud of her hard work, dedication, and the impact her research will have in the field of pain science. 🔬💡

Veronica extends her heartfelt thanks to her mentor Dr. Ben Kolber, Dr. Ted Price, Dr. Saad Yousuf, Dr. Steve Martin from UT Austin, Dr. Joe Pancrazio, the program, and NINDS for their support throughout her journey.

Congrats, Dr. Hong! The future is bright. 🌟

Huge congratulations to Dr. Dhananjay Naik on successfully defending his dissertation! 🎓👏

📄 Dissertation Title:
Actions of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Lipids on Mouse and Human Sensory Neurons

We’re excited to see what comes next, wishing you all the best in your future success!

CAPS researchers and collaborators have uncovered a key mechanism that enables nervous system connections to strengthen.  This fundamental discovery could lead to new treatments of chronic pain and other neurological conditions. 

Every day, CAPS researchers and their colleagues are working to find new non-opioid therapeutics to improve the lives of people living with unresolved pain. 

Learn more about this new discovery at https://utd.link/3kv. 

Read the paper at https://utd.link/3l0.

"The synaptic ectokinase VLK triggers the EphB2-NMDAR interaction to drive injury-induced pain"

Kolluru D. Srikanth, Hajira Elahi, Praveen Chander, Halley R. Washburn, Shayne Hassler, Juliet M. Mwirigi, Moeno Kume, Jessica Loucks, Rohita Arjarapu, Rachel Hodge, Lucy He, Khadijah Mazhar, Stephanie Shiers, Ishwarya Sankaranarayanan, Hediye Erdjument-Bromage, Thomas A. Neubert, Patrick M. Dougherty, Zachary T. Campbell, Raehum Paik, Theodore J. Price, and Matthew B. Dalva

Funding for this research is provided by

 

Are you considering a PhD in neuroscience? 🧠
Join our Center, where we're driving advancements in the science of pain and migraine to improve lives. 🙌 Deadline to apply is December 1st.

Work with Drs. Burton, Kolber, Price, Sadler, Tavares-Ferriera, and Yousuf? 👉 https://utd.link/3kf

Interested in Drs. D**g or Fotio? 👉https://utd.link/3ke

Want to work with Dr. Qin? 👉 https://utd.link/3kg

🌟 Big congrats to Katherine Gabriel, PhD and Christian Fofie, PhD, this year’s recipients of the Curtis Jones Sr. and Curtis Jones Jr. Award for Excellence in Pain Studies! 🌟

Founded in 2024 through a generous anonymous gift, this award honors postdoctoral researchers conducting groundbreaking work in pain science.  

Named in memory of Curtis Jones Sr. and Jr., whose legacy of excellence and mentorship continues to inspire, the award reflects a deep commitment to scientific discovery and educational excellence, values championed by Ted Price, founding executive director of the Center and close family friend.

Here’s to Katherine and Christian, your work is shaping the future of pain research. 🧠💥 

Read more about the award and the recipients at https://utd.link/3is.

The most commonly reported trigger for migraine is stress, but the field doesn’t really understand how stress leads to migraine. In this July Editor's Choice publication in Cephalalgia, Ya-Yu Hu, PhD, uncovers pieces of the stress-migraine relationship and investigates a new therapeutic strategy using mouse models of migraine.

The work details how targeting the HPA and the melanocortin system with FDA approved therapeutics could offer a fast-track approach to developing post-stress migraine therapeutics.

Check out the article at https://utd.link/3ic.
Watch an interview with Greg Dussor, PhD at https://utd.link/3id

🔬✨ Spotlight on Lucy He!

Lucy is a fourth-year PhD student who recently presented her research, “Characterizing Human Spinal Cord and the Periaqueductal Gray,” at our CAPS seminar.

Her work dives deep into the role of Dopamine 1-like receptors in the human spinal cord, key players in potentiating pain. 🧠💥 She’s investigating where these receptors are actually located: are they sitting on projection neurons or astrocytes?

The big question: do these pain-modulating mechanisms operate the same way in humans as they do in animal models? Lucy’s research is helping us get closer to the answer.