Our research is based on studies of healthy humans and patients with well-defined diseases of the touch and pain systems. We are studying how touch and pain are processed in the human nervous system from the skin to the brain in health and disease. Our research is focused on the functions of the slow, unmyelinated touch system as well as the ultrafast myelinated pain system. Our aims are to characterize peripheral transduction mechanisms, central nervous processing, and pathophysiological disturbances of the slow-touch and fast-pain systems. Our methods include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), microneurography (in vivo electrophysiology), electromyography (EMG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), laser-evoked potentials (LEPs), autonomic measures, psychophysics, and behavioral testing.
The overall aim is a mechanistic understanding of diseases that affects the perceptions of touch and pain.
Photo credit Thor Balkhed