EPS colours EPS colours EPS colours  European
Pain School
 European
Pain School
an educational project of IASP an educational project of IASP an educational project of IASP

 

EPS 2017: CNS vs PNS Contributions to Persistent Pain

CNS vs PNS Contributions to Persistent Pain

Siena, Italy • 4-11 June 2017

Siena, Italy • 4-11 June 2017

Welcome

Background

Certosa

The European Pain School (EPS), founded at the University of Siena (Italy) in 2002, is the first and still the premier school intended for students working on basic science and clinical topics related to acute and chronic pain. EPS has an interdisciplinary perspective and a distinct research orientation. Beginning with the EPS 2012 cycle EPS was adopted as an educational project of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Young scientists at the Ph.D. or postdoctoral levels (or equivalent) in all fields of pain science and pain medicine are encouraged to apply.

Mission and Overview

In the past the basic mechanisms of pain and the neural pathways involved were explored through research on animals and human subjects using well defined noxious stimuli and observing neurophysiological, behavioral and subjective sensory responses. This straightforward approach, however, is not sufficient to understand most of the real-life spontaneous and prolonged pain states that occur in human patients and animals. Rather, chronic pain involves complex and nonlinear functioning of neural and extraneural systems resulting in the maintenance of the pain process.

Long known are inflammatory mechanisms that can induce a prolonged pain state mediated by pain-producing substances of multiple origin including the immune system, with cytokines stimulating peripheral nociceptors or neurons of the central somatosensory system. Prolonged and enhanced activation of the central pain system may also be due to failure of inhibitory controls in the CNS, a likely mechanism in neuropathic pain. Control by both GABA and endogenous opioids may be affected, causing persistent pain and allodynia. Altered control may also be mediated by cytokines released from activated astrocytes and microglia in the CNS.

The mammalian pain system shows a clear sexual dimorphism that may depend on hormonal influences during peri- and postnatal nervous system development, among other causes. This sexual dichotomy has consequences for pain expression and for psychosocial and medical consequences of pain in males and females, including e.g. the process of pain chronification. Recognition of this dichotomy is resulting in developments in pain medicine that take gender into account.

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and its worldwide chapters provide impetus to these and other emerging aspects of pain disease mechanisms, resulting in the advancement of interdisciplinary programs for the ultimate benefit of pain patients. The European Pain School is focused on advancing this new vision among junior investigators interested in basic and clinical research on pain.

Topics

  • Genetic and epigenetic sources of pain variability
  • Optogenetic applications to pain research
  • Pain and the immune system
  • Sex, gender, gonadal hormones and pain
  • Advances in neuroimaging; pain signatures
  • Measuring pain; diagnosing painful conditions
  • Painful somatosensory illusions
  • Pain in the trigeminal region
  • The dorsal root ganglion as a pain generator
  • Central pain and pain centralization
  • The cerebral cortex and chronic pain
  • Glia-neuron interactions as pain mechanisms
  • Central pathways of pain modulation
  • What is central sensitization?
  • Situational, cognitive and emotional control of pain
  • Phantom pain, pain memory and cortical plasticity
  • Pain and consciousness
  • Plasticity of ionic channels: PNS and CNS

Faculty 2017

Anna Maria Aloisi, Siena, Italy
Giancarlo Carli, Siena, Italy
Marshall Devor, Jerusalem, Israel
Robert Gereau, St. Louis, MO, USA
Patrick Haggard, London, UK
William Maixner, Durham, NC, USA
Tamar Makin, Oxford, UK
Jordi Serra, Barcelona, Spain
Camilla Svensson, Stockholm, Sweden
Andrea Truini, Rome, Italy
Manfred Zimmermann, Heidelberg, Germany

Past cycles of the School

EPS 2016Pain: Neurons, Gender and Society (5-12 June 2016)

EPS 2015Plasticity in neural processing as a mechanism in chronic pain (7-14 June 2015)

EPS 2014Spontaneous versus Evoked Pain in Animals and Humans (8-15 June 2014)

EPS 2013Brain Modulation of Pain Experience (9-16 June 2013)

EPS 2012Evolution of Concepts on Pain (3-10 June 2012)

EPS 2011Pain: Bridging Molecules and Mind (12-19 June 2011)

EPS 2010Translating Pain Science into Pain Medicine (30 May - 6 June 2010)

EPS 2009Molecular Mechanisms of Pain Response (13-20 June 2009)

EPS 2008Hyperexcitable Neurons as Pain Generators (15-22 June 2008)

EPS 2007Pain Syndromes: Science and Medical Practice (17-24 June 2007)

EPS 2006Pain and the Central Nervous System (12-17 June 2005)

EPS 2005Chronic Pain a Disease: The Role of Genes (6-11 June 2005)

EPS 2003Chronic Pain a Disease: Novel Scientific Concepts (25-31 October 2003)

Photo gallery
IASP

Important dates

Application deadline:
EXTENDED TO
27 February 2017

Notification of selections:
23 March 2017
All applicants have now been notified
of the selection results.

Deadline for attendance confirmation:
1 April 2017

Deadline for payment:
28 April 2017

Flyer

Call for applications
Feel free to download it and distribute in your Department.

University Siena

With the support of

Grunenthal

UgoBasile