Probing G protein coupled receptor signaling networks in trigeminal nociception

最常见的两种疼痛原因是牙痛和头痛，但科学家们不知道。我真的明白神经是如何聚集和交流的？信息来自嘴，脸和大脑。如果他们做到了，这将为缓解疼痛的新方法打开大门。我们的研究集中在我们是如何感知牙齿和头痛的问题上，这种感觉在炎症中是如何改变的，我们如何才能停止这种疼痛。为了解决这些复杂的问题，我们将使用一系列先进的技术工具和方法，这些工具和方法可以通过利兹大学和我们在圣安东尼奥德克萨斯大学健康科学中心的合作者获得，该中心拥有美国最好的牙科学校之一。这些工具将包括活体神经细胞的电记录、成像（观察细胞深处）和分子生物学。例如，我们将使用最新一代的仪器an ？光学荧光显微镜？(欧洲?（我们在利兹的实验室里正在组装第一台这样的机器），它可以看到如此精细的细节，以至于我们将能够拍摄到将疼痛传递给大脑的单个分子的视频。最终，这项工作将带来全新的方法来理解和治疗疼痛，这些疼痛不仅会引起难以置信的不适，而且会给卫生服务和社会带来数十亿英镑的损失。在我们的小组中，我们是公众参与科学的强烈倡导者。普通大众对生物医学研究非常感兴趣（尤其是因为他们为生物医学研究买单），我们必须更多地参与向非科学受众传播我们的基础研究。作为一项正在进行的活动，我们最近获得了一个合作的惠康？人奖?与格拉斯哥艺术家吉姆·帕蒂森（Jim Pattison）合作举办了一个展览，展示神经细胞中的信号蛋白是如何工作的，以及技术变革如何改变了我们表达这些蛋白质的方式。我们还打算建个实验室？开放日?给学童及有兴趣的家长，每年一次；我们设想他们会对看到尖端技术应用于疼痛研究非常感兴趣。我们的机构认为公众参与非常重要，我们已经入围了公众参与的灯塔，HEFCE的新# 800倡议，研究委员会和威康信托基金，旨在促进卓越的公众参与。

Two of the most common causes of pain are toothache and headache, but scientists don?t really understand how nerves collect and communicate ?painful? information from the mouth, face and brain. If they did, it would open the door to new methods for pain relief. Our research is centered on the question of how we sense tooth- and headache, how this sensation is altered in inflammation and how can we stop such pains. To tackle these intricate questions we are going to use an array of cutting-edge technological tools and approaches available through Leeds University and through our collaborators at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio which hosts one of the best dental schools in USA. These tools will include electrical recordings from living nerve cells, imaging (to look deep inside cells) and molecular biology. For example, we will use a latest generation of an instrument called an ?optical fluorescent microscope? (the Europe?s first machine of this kind is now being assembled in our lab at Leeds) which can see in such fine detail that we will be able to make videos of the individual molecules that transmit pain to the brain. Ultimately this work should lead to brand new ways to understand and treat pains which not only cause incredible discomfort, but cost the Health Services and society billions of pounds.In our group we are strong advocates of Public Engagement in Science. The general public are incredibly interested in biomedical research (not least because they pay for it), and we have to get more involved in communicating our basic research to non-scientific audience. As an ongoing activity, we have recently obtained a collaborative Wellcome ?People Award? with the Glasgow-based artist Jim Pattison to develop an exhibition to show how signalling proteins in nerve cells work, and how technological changes have altered the way how we represent these. We also plan to have a lab ?Open Day? for schoolchildren and interested parents once a year; we envisage that they will be extremely interested in seeing cutting edge technology applied to pain research. Our institution considers public engagement highly important, and we have been shortlisted for the Beacons of Public Engagement , the new #8m initiative oh HEFCE, Research Councils and the Wellcome Trust, which aims to promote excellence in public engagement.