Peripheral voltage gated sodium channels in health and disease

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The present research proposal focuses on nerves found in the skin muscle and viscera that are the first stage in pathways that cause pain in the brain. In previous studies we have found some key molecules (for example Nav1.7 (a sodium channel protein) that are important pain-killing drug targets in man, by generating mice that have lost genes we think may be important in pain and modelling human disease. Here we show how we can kill different sorts of nerve cells in mice using genetically modified animals and find out what the cells do. By identifying particular cell types and associating them with different aspects of pain, we can the find the molecules that make these cells function, and devise other new pain-killing drugs taht target particular types of pain.