Translational Research on Chronic Pain and Opioid-Associated Disorders at Tao Lab. Chronic pain, a major health problem, is caused by tissue/nerve injury and various diseases. Current treatments for this disorder are very limited. Opioids are the gold standard for chronic pain management in the clinical setting. However, the long-term use of the opioids produces severe side effects. The research projects in Tao Lab focus on understanding molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie chronic pain/opioid-associated disorders and applying these mechanisms to develop new strategies for managements of these disorders. His team carried out distinct models of chronic pain in mice/rats, which mimic cancer pain, neuropathic pain, or arthritis-related inflammatory pan in clinic. Additionally, human tissues have been used to verify the observations from rodents. Tao Lab has made great measurable progress, including five approved patents and many excellent publications in top-rated scientific journals, including Nature Neuroscience, Advanced Science, Neuron, JCI, JEM and Nature Communications. Current projects are supported by several NIH grants.
- Title
- Professor and Vice Chair of Research
- Area of Study/Expertise
- Cancer pain; Central sensitization; Chronic opioid tolerance; Chronic pain; Dorsal root ganglion ; Epigenetics; Glutamate receptors; Inflammatory pain; NMDA receptors; Neurpathic pain; Non-coding RNA; Opioid-induced hyperalgesia; Peripheral sensitization; Spinal cord; Transcription; Translation
- yt211@njms.rutgers.edu