Project description
Unravelling the mechanisms of IBS pain
Chronic abdominal pain is a debilitating symptom that affects millions worldwide. Unfortunately, traditional models of sensory neuron activity do not explain how these neurons sustain pain signals over time. One emerging theory points to membrane potential instabilities (MPIs), which are subthreshold voltage fluctuations linked to neuropathic and cancer pain. However, their role in visceral pain is still unknown. Understanding this connection could lead to breakthroughs in treating conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the RIIBS project will explore MPIs in IBS pain using cutting-edge voltage optical recordings and patient-derived sensory neurons. Overall, RIIBS aims to revolutionise IBS treatment and improve clinical pain management.
Objective
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal disorders with a prevalence of 4-10% worldwide, characterized by recurrent abdominal pain. Pain is tightly related with noxious stimulus detection carried out by peripheral sensory neurons (PSNs). However, how those neurons generate ongoing activity, encoding constant or slow stimuli is still uncertain, and the current textbook model for sensory transduction and encoding fails to explain it. During the last years, many authors have proposed membrane potential instabilities (MPIs), a voltage dependent phenomenon that consists in subthreshold membrane potential fluctuations, as the mechanism underlying ongoing activity and demonstrated its upregulation in pathologies coursing with neuropathic and bone cancer pain, both in animal models and patients. Nevertheless, the role of MPIs in visceral pain remains completely unexplored. In this project we aim to characterize the role of MPIs and excitability changes in the development of IBS pain, as well as its underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, we will develop a new model to study the subcellular distribution of MPIs and action potential encoding in this pathology, using voltage optical recordings. Finally, to assure the translatability of our results, we will study sensory neurons from IBS patients and the possibility to treat them through MPIs pharmacological disruption, opening new treatment approaches. In the long-term, RIIBS action will lead to increased insight in sensory information encoding, the pathophysiology of IBS and ultimately to improved clinical management of visceral pain. This is the adequate moment to carry this action, as the host institution counts with top-notch facilities to make it feasible, the host supervisors have recently generated a novel animal model reproducing IBS and have access to clinical patients, and voltage optical recordings have been living an exponential refinement in the last years.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology pathophysiology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pathology
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
9052 ZWIJNAARDE - GENT
Belgium
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