Hildebrand Pain Lab (spinal mechanisms of pain processing)

The Hildebrand Pain Lab studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms of chronic inflammatory and nerve injury pain. Research combines rodent pain models with electrophysiological recordings from pain-related neurons in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord to investigate the roles of specific proteins, including ion channels, in normal and pathological pain signalling. The laboratory has developed protocols for preparing viable parasagittal spinal cord slices from juvenile and adult animals and human organ donors, enabling recordings from individual neurons while preserving neuronal processes. By combining animal models with preclinical human spinal cord assays, the laboratory investigates pain mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets.