Funded Projects

Neuropathic pain conditions are difficult to treat, and novel non-narcotic analgesics are desperately needed. The G protein-coupled receptor 160 (GPR160) has emerged as a novel target for analgesic development, as GPR160 in the spinal cord may play a role in the transition from acute to chronic pain. Cocaine- and Amphetamine-Regulated transcript peptide (CARTp) was identified as a ligand for GPR160. Blocking endogenous CARTp signaling in the spinal cord attenuates neuropathic pain, whereas intrathecal injection of CARTp evokes painful hypersensitivity in rodents through GPR160-dependent extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and cyclic AMP response element-binding pathways (CREB). This project will isolate and biochemically characterize GPR160 and establish methods for biochemical characterization of GPR160 interaction with CARTp activator. Researchers will miniaturize and optimize biochemical assay and scale up protein production for future high throughput biochemical screening to identify potent inhibitors of GPR160 activation. These studies are critical for defining the molecular mechanism of CARTp/GPR160 interactions and initiating large-scale screens for new inhibitors to develop novel therapeutics.

This project addresses the significant challenge of providing evidence-based, non-pharmacologic pain management to veterans with chronic pain living in rural regions. This research will test whether an innovative, virtual complementary and integrative group-based treatment will improve rural veterans’ pain management, function, and well-being. The research will also devise, evaluate, and adapt strategies for implementing this intervention while working with the health care system, veteran patients, and communities. The scalable, 12-week intervention includes pain education, mindfulness, pain-specific exercises, and cognitive behavioral strategies.

Wound care procedures (WCPs), such as dressing changes, cause moderate to severe pain in 74% of patients, nearly half of whom experience severe pain. Mainstay recommendations to prevent pain during WCPs have focused on either administration of preventive and procedural analgesia or use of expensive, non-adherent dressings. However, it is unclear which patients to target for analgesia or expensive dressings, leading to their inappropriate over- or underuse. To achieve the aims of the study, a comprehensive set of wound, patient, and biological factors will be measured concurrently with pain during a dressing change among a sample of 450 inpatients with open wounds. A predictive model will be developed and biological mechanisms will be examined using logistic regression. The proposed study has the potential to make significant contributions because clinicians will be able to target those patients requiring preventive pain control, thereby eliminating the spiraling impact of painful procedures on nociceptor sensitization.

Opioid overdose deaths disproportionately affect Black individuals in the United States. While the use of complementary and integrative pain treatments is effective and widely recommended, Black pain patients (especially those who also have depression) face barriers to the use of these approaches. This project will refine, test, and prepare to implement a novel approach to overcoming these treatment barriers. The research will partner with and empower Black patients to find safe, effective pain treatments that best match their values, preferences, and lifestyles.

Chronic pain affects over 100 million Americans, costing society about $600 billion annually. Despite numerous pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies, over 50% of chronic pain sufferers feel little control over their pain. CognifiSense has developed a patent-pending Virtual Reality Psychological Therapy (VRPT), which is designed to create lasting reduction of chronic pain by addressing the maladaptive learning processes driving pain chronification. VRPT is an experiential learning system, which provides the brain a new set of signals that teaches it that the pain is not as bad as it perceived and that it has greater control over the pain than it perceived. VRPT combines the immersive power and the ability to individualize the therapy of Virtual Reality with well-researched principles of self-distancing, self-efficacy, and extinction to retrain the brain. The goal of this study is to determine the clinical feasibility of VRPT in achieving a lasting reduction of chronic pain, establish brain mechanisms associated with treatment response, and collect comprehensive user feedback to enable further refinement of the current product prototype. CognifiSense's VRPT has the potential to be a significant clinical and business opportunity in the treatment of chronic pain.

The HEAL Initiative is establishing a HEAL Data Ecosystem to help investigators manage and share HEAL-generated data. A key principle underlying the HEAL Data Ecosystem strategy is to make those data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). Renascence Computing Institute at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (RENCI) and RTI, International (RTI) [RENCI/RTI] are serving as the HEAL Data Stewardship Group to guide HEAL investigators as they prepare their data to connect to the HEAL Platform, a secure data access and computing environment that will leverage metadata query to provide access to data and digital assets stored in various disparate repositories. The HEAL Data Stewardship Group is engaging HEAL investigators to understand and enhance data management needs, provide tools, training, and best practices for making data FAIR, and understand and support valuable uses and reuses of HEAL data sharing via the Platform The HEAL Data Stewardship Group will collaborate closely with the HEAL Platform team at the University of Chicago to meet the needs and goals of the HEAL Data Ecosystem.

The HEAL Initiative is establishing a HEAL Data Ecosystem to help investigators manage and share HEAL-generated data, and quickly and efficiently disseminate HEAL results broadly to stakeholders. The HEAL Platform, built by the University of Chicago, will enable broad sharing of HEAL data by linking data stored in various locations, annotated and curated to various extents, to one central interface where studies, data, and digital assets can be discovered and accessed via metadata query. The Platform will also provide secure workspaces so that under appropriate conditions, data can be pulled from disparate repositories and computed on in the same cloud space, using tools and analytic suites provided within. The Platform team will collaborate closely with the HEAL Data Stewardship Group (Renascence Computing Institute at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and RTI, International) to meet the needs and goals of the HEAL Data Ecosystem.