Expertise
The aim of my research is novel therapeutic strategies for chronic pain management on a long-term or permanent basis. Gene therapy or cell transplantation can provide a continually renewable source of pain-reducing substances. Recent work has focused on development of novel analgesic peptides engineered for direct delivery or via cellular transplantation.
Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapies for Alleviation of Chronic Pain.
Our current research initiatives and future challenges include: (1) Design of synergistic combination analgesic gene constructs for cell transplantation or viral vector-based delivery, (2) Discovery and characterization of novel mammalian and non-mammalian peptides (e.g. cannabinoid-acting conopeptides) that can be developed for long-term chronic pain management, (3) Addition of exercise training to enhance analgesic benefits and overall well-being, (4) Synthesis of regulatable gene constructs to produce engineered analgesic peptides in response to inflammation and pain, and (5) Exploration of emerging technologies such as gene editing to improve cell and tissue transplantability.