IASP/PNS Webinar: Human‑Centered Approaches to Neuropathic Pain: From Mechanisms to Translation

Webinar Overview:

Understanding neuropathic pain requires approaches that bridge mechanistic discovery and clinical relevance. In this second session of the Translational Science in Neuropathic Pain webinar series, leading experts present cutting‑edge insights into how human‑based methodologies are reshaping our understanding of neuropathic pain mechanisms and opening new avenues for diagnosis and therapy.

The webinar will highlight advances in the study of human peripheral sensory neurons using complementary translational strategies. Ted Price will present landmark work from human dorsal root ganglion and peripheral nerve tissue obtained from surgeries and organ donors, demonstrating how nociceptor hyperexcitability and neuronal degeneration contribute to chronic neuropathic pain. By integrating electrophysiological, molecular, and ‑omic analyses, this work provides direct evidence from human tissue that links cellular dysfunction to clinical pain phenotypes and therapeutic targets.

Jordi Serra will focus on microneurography, a unique electrophysiological technique that enables direct recording of action potentials from peripheral nerves in awake humans. His talk will illustrate how microneurography has advanced our understanding of abnormal nociceptor activity in neuropathic pain and how it serves as a powerful translational bridge from bench to bedside, with growing relevance for the diagnosis and stratification of small fiber neuropathies and chronic pain syndromes.

Manuela Schmidt will present systems‑level approaches to translational pain research, highlighting how advanced proteomics and metaproteomics can uncover molecular pathways underlying chronic pain. Her talk will emphasize the integration of human biospecimens—including blood, stool, and dorsal root ganglia—with systems biology approaches to explore host–microbiome interactions and their relevance for pain mechanisms and therapeutic development.

Together, these presentations showcase how human‑centered experimental strategies from tissue‑based molecular profiling to in vivo nerve recordings are transforming neuropathic pain research and accelerating translation into clinically meaningful insights and treatments.

Moderators:

Angelika Lampert – Germany
Diana Tavarres – United States
Daniela Maria Menichella – United States
Patrick Dougherty – United States

Presenters:

Jordi Sierra – United States
Manuela Schmidt – Austria
Ted Price – United States