SPARC

The Stony Brook University Pain and Analgesia Research Center (SPARC) is an initiative to promote collaboration on basic and translational pain research. Laboratories in SPARC use multidisciplinary approaches to investigate mechanisms of pain sensation and pathogenesis at molecular, cellular, circuit, and systems levels, with the ultimate goal of helping develop effective non-opioid analgesics for better pain management in patients. Our mission is to develop a collaborative and creative environment to support studies that provide important insights into physiological and/or pathological pain mechanisms and translate the new mechanistic understanding into therapeutics.

Martin Kaczocha, PhD - Lipid Metabolism and Signaling: Roles in Pain and Inflammation

Michelino Puopolo, PhD - Ion Channels and Neuronal Excitability, Mechanisms of Pain

Shao-Jun Tang, PhD - Mechanisms of pathological pain

Liu X, Bae C, Gelman BB, Chung JM, Tang SJ. A neuron-to-astrocyte Wnt5a signal governs astrogliosis during HIV-associated pain pathogenesis. Brain. 2022 Jan 18.

Bogdan DM, Studholme K, DiBua A, Gordon C, Kanjiya MP, Yu M, Puopolo M, Kaczocha M. FABP5 deletion in nociceptors augments endocannabinoid signaling and suppresses TRPV1 sensitization and inflammatory pain. Sci Rep. 2022 Jun 2;12(1):9241

Tang SJ. Reactive astrocytes in pain neural circuit pathogenesis. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2022 Jun 16;75

Watson Z, Tang SJ. Aberrant Synaptic Pruning in CNS Diseases: A Critical Player in HIV-Associated Neurological Dysfunction?. Cells. 2022 Jun 16;11(12):1943

Hankerd K, Koo H, McDonough KE, Wang J, Pariyar R, Tang SJ, Chung JM, La JH. Gonadal hormone-dependent nociceptor sensitization maintains nociplastic pain state in female mice. Pain. 2022 Jun 16

Liu X, Bae C, Liu B, Zhang YM, Zhou X, Zhang D, Zhou C, DiBua A, Schutz L, Kaczocha M, Puopolo M, Yamaguchi TP, Chung JM, Tang SJ. Development of opioid-induced hyperalgesia depends on reactive astrocytes controlled by Wnt5a signaling. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Oct 6.

Ou M, Chen Y, Liu J, Zhang D, Yang Y, Shen J, Miao C, Tang SJ, Liu X, Mulkey DK, Zhu T, Zhou C. Spinal astrocytic MeCP2 regulates Kir4.1 for the maintenance of chronic hyperalgesia in neuropathic pain. Prog Neurobiol. 2023 May;224:102436. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2023.102436. Epub 2023 Mar 16. PMID: 36931588

Hankerd K, Koo H, McDonough KE, Wang J, Pariyar R, Tang SJ, Chung JM, La JH. Gonadal hormone-dependent nociceptor sensitization maintains nociplastic pain state in female mice. Pain. 2023 Feb 1;164(2):402-412.

Liu X, Tang SJ. Pathogenic mechanisms of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated pain. Mol Psychiatry. 2023 Oct 19