Funded Projects

Acute corneal pain from eye injury or surgery can be severe and debilitating, and oral opioids can be addictive. Anesthetic eye drops, such as tetracaine, can relieve corneal pain, but are only available by prescription due to potential overuse of the drops that may affect wound healing. To date, no ocular anesthetics are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use at home. This project aims to develop a bandage that delivers anesthetic to the eye through a specially designed contact lens filled with medication. A prototype version of the bandage lens in an animal model delivered up to 30 hours of eye pain relief without wound damage. This research will optimize the prototype version and evaluate safety and compatibility with the human body, toward future clinical testing in humans. 

Common chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, temporomandibular disorder, and low back pain, are significant health conditions for which safe and effective treatments are needed. Previous studies have identified the adrenergic receptor beta-3 (Adrb3) as a novel target for chronic pain, but past attempts to block this receptor have not worked. This project aims to identify and develop new molecules to attach selectively and block Adrb3 without entering the brain and spinal cord. The research will test these molecules in rodent animal models to determine their ability to block pain without significant side effects.

Oral cancer pain is debilitating and difficult to treat, in part because even the most effective available pain remedies are limited by side effects. Opioid-based pain medications have several side effects including dependence and tolerance, in which the body gets used to a medicine so that either more medicine is needed or different medicine is needed. Another side effect is hyperalgesia, in which people taking opioids become more sensitive to certain painful stimuli and may misuse the drugs and risk addiction. This project will evaluate lab-made versions of cannabinoid molecules known to block pain signals in nerve cells, but which cannot enter the brain to cause neurological side effects. The research aims to advance promising versions of the molecules to testing in human research participants.

Cerebral palsy (CP), the leading cause of childhood disabilities in the United States, refers to a group of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination. The experience of pain is one of the most common, poorly understood, and inadequately treated conditions in CP, impairing health and quality of life for both patients and caregivers. To understand why pain and motor dysfunction occur together, a model that accurately replicates both is needed. This project will validate an established, rabbit model of CP motor dysfunction for use in studying and developing effective treatments for CP-associated pain.