Quality of life for patients suffering from pain is impacted by co-morbidities such as prolonged negative affective states which can trigger the development of depressive states, drug misuse and life threatening events.

Our lab uses multiple avenues to improve pain treatment and dampen the development of opioid use disorder.

Using a variety of multidisciplinary approaches, from viral-based neurocircuitry tracing, pharmacology, opto-/chemo-genetics behavioral models of pain, negative affective states, and drug self-administration, we work towards unraveling the neuronal networks and allostatic changes that might influence behavioral outcomes.