Virginia Commonwealth University · Dept. of Neuroscience
Neuroscience of Chronic Pain
We investigate how nerve injuries trigger plasticity changes in spinal cord dorsal horn circuits — bridging molecular, circuit, and behavioral levels of analysis to develop targeted therapies for neuropathic pain.
Explore our research →Chronic pain affects millions of people and costs hundreds of billions of dollars each year in the United States. Our ability to treat neuropathic pain remains severely limited compared to the burden of this disease.
The Crowther Lab investigates how nerve injuries trigger plasticity changes in spinal cord dorsal horn circuits — the first area of the central nervous system to process somatosensory information. We use cutting-edge techniques including in vivo calcium imaging, viral circuit tracing, behavioral recording, and transgenic mouse models to understand how descending brainstem circuits that normally inhibit pain become dysfunctional after injury.
Our current research focuses on characterizing time-dependent changes in the locus coeruleus–spinal noradrenergic pathway, comparing oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy with traumatic nerve injury to identify rescuable intervention windows for endogenous analgesia systems.
We welcome inquiries from prospective graduate students, postdocs, and collaborators interested in pain neuroscience, spinal cord circuit imaging, or neuropathic pain. If you are passionate about neuroscience and find the field of chronic pain research exciting, reach out.