2025 Mind Matters Series- Learning to Relieve Pain in a Drug-Free Way
Wednesday, 7 May, 2025 12:00 pmZoom
Chronic pain is a staggering health crisis, affecting 1 in 4 Americans and millions more worldwide, yet existing treatments often fall short in providing safe and effective relief. Opioid drugs can be powerful pain relievers, but they come with life-threatening side effects and high abuse potential. Unlike opioid drugs, which have widespread effects, natural opioids made by the brain are released at specific locations, providing targeted pain relief without a widespread effect on brain cell populations which causes unwanted side effects.
Using mice as a model, we teach them to relieve their own pain without drugs, allowing us to investigate the brain cells involved in pain and how natural opioid release impacts these “pain cells.” Our research seeks to enhance understanding of the neural pathways engaged by drug-free pain relief and inform the development of new therapies for chronic pain that do not rely on opioid drugs.
Lindsay Ejoh
Lindsay Ejoh is a PhD Candidate in Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Music from the University of Pittsburgh in 2020. It was in college that Lindsay first became interested in pain neurobiology, with deep interests in gastrointestinal pain. Presently, she is in the lab of Dr. Gregory Corder, investigating brain circuits underlying pain and endogenous pain relief in mice.
Lindsay's long-term goal is to establish a laboratory as a principal investigator, dedicating her career to advancing our understanding of chronic pain, with an emphasis on gastrointestinal and other visceral pain disorders. She is very passionate about using her skills and online presence to communicate brain science facts to the general public and increase opportunities for underrepresented minorities in STEM. Outside of lab, Lindsay loves singing, playing guitar, content creation, traveling, and hanging out with friends and family.