Investigation of nerve toxins for the control of pain after spinal cord injury

A 3.5 year PhD studentship with an enhanced stipend is available to investigate the use of botulinum toxin in the control of chronic pain after spinal cord injury (SCI). There are currently 40,000 individuals living with Spinal Cord Injury in the UK alone and as many as half of these experience a particularly nasty form of chronic pain triggered by damage to the nervous system (neuropathic pain). In some patients, the pain is so severe that it becomes an overriding preoccupation, preventing employment and seriously impacting quality of life. Current medications are frequently ineffective and have unwanted side effects so that there is an urgent unmet need for more effective treatments.

Recent evidence indicates that botulinum toxins, in addition to interfering with transmission at the neuromuscular junction, can affect transmission at central synapses in the spinal cord and that they reduce pain-like behaviours in animal models of chronic pain (Favre-Guilmard et al. 2017, EJP, 21:927). These potential analgesic actions occur at doses below those producing paralysis and the same doses are without any apparent effect on normal nociceptive pain. These properties, combined with a long duration of action suggest botulinum toxins could prove very useful in the management of chronic pain.

The main aim of this project is to use preclinical (rodent) models of spinal cord injury, in which we have observed the development of readily quantifiable evoked and spontaneous pain-like behaviours, to investigate whether treatment with nerve toxins can prevent or reduce signs of pain. The project will investigate whether an established pain state can be reversed and whether pre-emptive treatment can prevent or mitigate the development of pain. Initially the study will focus on the actions of native botulinum toxin A (the IPSEN product Dysport, which is licenced for clinical use) but may progress to investigating modified toxins under development. Since little is currently known about the mechanisms by which botulinum toxins exert their analgesic action, these will also be a focus of this study.

The project will be based in the Spinal Cord Group within the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow and will be supervised by Dr John Riddell (http://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/neurosciencepsychology/staff/johnriddell/) and Professor Andrew Todd (http://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/neurosciencepsychology/staff/andrewtodd/). The group provides an attractive environment for pain research particularly in the area of pain circuitry in the dorsal horn for which we have an excellent track record. There are excellent facilities for preparation of preclinical models, behavioural assessment, electrophysiology and anatomical methods and the student will receive full training in these investigative approaches. The group also have close ties with the National Spinal Injuries Unit situated at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital a few miles from the lab where clinical research on pain in spinal cord injured patients is conducted. The project is in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company IPSEN Inc. and there will be an opportunity for the student to spend some time working at the premises of the Industrial Partner.

Informal enquiries and applications can be made directly to [Email Address Removed]. Applications should include a full CV with qualifications, accompanied by a personal statement setting out the reasons that you are applying for this studentship.

When applying, please search for: "Investigation of nerve toxins for the control of pain after spinal cord injury" in the programme description box of the application form.

Start date: October 2017