Seminar – Yu Shin Kim, PhD

Our research focuses on the function and regulation of sensory modalities including pain, itch, and gentle touch. Special objectives in our research are to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms of pain by studying neural circuit activities evoked by pain in basal and disease conditions.

Inflammation and nerve injury can result in chronic pain that can seriously challenge daily activities. Pain is mainly mediated by a subset of primary sensory neurons known as nociceptors in Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG) and Trigeminal Ganglia (TG). How DRG neurons function at a population level under physiological and pathological conditions is not known. Therefore, monitoring the activities of primary nociceptive neurons and axons is crucial to understanding pain mechanisms.

Our research projects include 1) identifying novel plasticity mechanisms underlying the transition from acute to chronic pain, 2) examining the mechanism of Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD), 3) determining the mechanism of ongoing and evoked pain, 4) characterizing the contributions of central terminal hypersensitivity of DRG neurons to chronic pain, and 5) uncovering the mechanisms by which damages in skin nerve terminals contributes to chronic pain conditions.