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Researchers at the University of Washington have received an $11.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study and treat pain, along with reducing opioid use.
The grant was awarded to the school for research into human genes and neural cells. The goal of the research is to better understand how cells transmit pain.
Dr. Robert Gereau, director of the University of Washington Pain Center, explained the overall goal of the initiative, which is called the Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL) initiative.
“The NIH initiative was launched to address the kind of parallel crises in overdose deaths and chronic pain caused by opioids,” Gereau said. “Part of how the opioid crisis started was [a] diversion of opioids allegedly distributed to treat chronic pain. So the goal of the HEAL initiative is to have a whole bunch of different programs that address these issues, create new treatments for addiction, and prevent overdose deaths.
Gereau directs the Integrated Human Tissue Pain Research Center (INTERCEPT), which focuses on how different cell types and genes transmit pain signals, particularly in relation to chronic pain. The research center consists of three groups, all of which focus on pain management.
Gereau also said there are many students helping with the initiative, including fifth-year neuroscience doctoral student Jiwon Yi.
Yee said she received her bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and her master’s degree from the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, she said someone recommended that she enroll in graduate studies at the University of Washington.
“I ended up choosing WashU for graduate school,” Yee said. “There is a large pain center and a strong collection of research laboratories that focus on pain. I thought that was unique to WashU.”
Yi said one of the advantages of the grant is that researchers can use human tissue instead of exclusively using rodents.
“We use human tissue to confirm what we find in rodents, and then we bring it to clinics if we think it will be useful,” Yee said. “We can go directly from rodent trials to human trials, which is useful for failing clinical trials.”
Yee described her work as creating an “atlas” for pain management.
“I would call it an atlas.” It could be publicly available and look at things like gene expression or electrophysiological properties,” Yi said. “Other groups around the world that are looking at pain research and looking at the peripheral nervous system can then access that atlas and use it as a tool as well. to inform their research.
David Perlmutter, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at Washington University, described the relationship between NIH grants and the University as something similar to other top research universities.
“The University of Washington School of Medicine, like most top research-intensive medical schools, has relied on NIH grants for its research activities since it became the standard way to obtain funding after World War II,” Perlmutter said. “It has always been part of the medical research culture at top universities.”
Perlmutter explained that the NIH is a good indicator of how competitive a university’s research and science is. In addition to funding the actual grant and administration, NIH grants also typically fund research infrastructure.
Ii said she had a good experience working on the project.
“For many people involved in pain research, the ultimate goal is to find new targets and new therapies that can be used to treat pain without creating addiction or side effects,” Yee said. “And direct human tissue is an excellent platform that accelerates the process—it bridges the gap from preclinical research to rodent research to clinical research.”
In terms of broader research, Perlmutter emphasized that grants are not the main reason the school strives to be so competitive in terms of medical advancement.
“NIH grants are not why we do research; the reason we do research is to advance knowledge and improve health care,” Perlmutter said. “NIH funding makes that possible and allows us to do more than that.” That’s an indication that you have great science.”
As for opioid treatment and chronic pain treatment in general, Gereau hopes new solutions will reduce reliance on opioids.
“My hope is that we’ll come up with new drugs that don’t have the same potential liability for abuse,” Gereau said. “People can have effective pain management without the risk of becoming addicted.” [on the medicine].”
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