UNE researchers make presentations at World Congress on Pain conference

UNE researchers from the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences attended the 2018 World Congress on Pain in Boston last week.

This bi-annual meeting of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) attracts pain researchers, clinicians and policymakers from around the world. IASP has more than 7,000 members from 133 countries.

The conference is a professional forum for science, practice and education in the field of pain. It promotes communication between researchers, clinicians and policy makers, helping to ensure that current research focuses on issues that are the most pressing to patients. It connects clinicians with newly available research and treatments and keeps policymakers informed about areas in need of continued funding and legislation.

Eight faculty, six staff and undergraduates from the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Westbrook College of Health Professionals attended the conference.

Diana Goode, Ph.D., post-doc in the laboratory of Derek Molliver, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences, presented a poster about a process that causes the transition from acute to chronic pain. Ling Cao, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences and her post-doctoral fellow Alexa Wakely, Ph.D., presented a poster that looks at the role of the neuroimmune system in recovery after peripheral nerve injury. Tamara King, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences, presented a poster on the effects of exercise on osteoarthritis joint pain. King’s student Josh Havelin, a Ph.D. candidate in UMaine’s GSBSE program, presented a poster about breakthrough cancer pain.