Integrated Basic and Clinical Team-Based Research in Pain

Overview

The Research Need

Novel research approaches are needed to address a lack of mechanistic and biological understanding of human pain conditions and experiences as well as a lack of clinically relevant endpoints and outcome measures to reflect human pain. Also slowing progress is that most current pain management and research strategies typically focus on either preclinical or clinical studies rather than an integrated approach.

About the Program

This program supports team-based, cross-cutting research approaches that combine basic and clinical research. These integrated research teams consisting of three to six principal investigators with expertise in multiple complementary disciplines pursue coordinated research projects with a common goal. They follow a single, well-integrated research plan rather than a collection of individual studies. The research is expected to significantly transform understanding of human pain conditions and guide development of new therapeutic approaches.

Each multi-scientist project team focuses on a specific pain condition or a group/type of pain condition(s), such as musculoskeletal pain, headache/migraine, chemotherapy-induced pain, sickle cell disease pain, or any other pain condition that affects people of any age. Researchers involved in these efforts represent scientific disciplines ranging from basic and preclinical science and model development to clinical research, psychology, animal behavior, artificial intelligence, and data science.