Objective
"Pain may be defined as a primarily aversive perception that is vital for survival, as it incites the individual to respond to stimuli constituting a real or potential menace. However, pain is also a major healthcare issue, undermining the health and welfare of millions of individuals and imposing a severe financial burden to our societies. How does the brain process noxious stimuli, and how does this lead to the perception of pain? In humans, using functional neuroimaging techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a great number of studies have shown that noxious stimuli elicit activity within a widespread network of cortical regions, including the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices, the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. However, recent studies have suggested that these responses are largely unspecific for pain and, instead, reflect attentional mechanisms that can be triggered by the occurrence of any salient sensory event, regardless of whether it elicits pain.
Therefore, novel approaches are needed to progress in understanding the neural representation of pain in humans. This constitutes the main objective of this project in which we will develop a series of original experimental approaches to (1) explore how transient and sustained pain are respectively represented in the human brain, (2) characterize directly the functional connectivity, interdependency and hierarchical organization of the different brain regions involved in the perception of pain and (3) characterize the plastic changes in cortical excitability and functional connectivity induced by sustained experimental pain as well as chronic pathological pain. Each of these approaches has the potential to open a new line of research for basic and clinical pain neuroscience, with important development perspectives, such as the identification of novel human biomarkers for analgesic drug development and improved patient stratification."
Fields of science
Call for proposal
ERC-2013-StG
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
ERC-SG - ERC Starting GrantHost institution
1348 Louvain La Neuve
Belgium