About my research

I am focusing my research on the interaction between pain and sleep.

Previous research

During my PhD I studied the neural correlates of pain and sleep in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, affective pain component) and the somatosensory cortex (S1, sensory pain component).

In the resulting paper Interactive Effects of Pain and Arousal State on Heart Rate and Cortical Activity in the Mouse Anterior Cingulate and Somatosensory Cortices I showed for the first time in naturally sleeping mice that painful mechanical stimuli reach cortical areas associated with pain processing (anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and primary somatosensory cortex (S1)).

Painful stimuli increased gamma (>40 Hz), a recognized marker of sensory processing, and induced long-lasting changes in the theta and alpha frequency range, where we find the sleep spindles.

Thus, in sleep:

1. both sensory (S1) and affective (ACC) pain dimensions can be processed
2. nociceptive stimuli disrupt sleep quality

Additionally, I showed that by correlating gamma activity in S1 and the heart rate right after the stimulation was performed, it was possible to differentiate painful from non-painful inputs.

Current research

During my Postdoc I have narrowed my focus onto pain-induced sleep disturbances.

Using a combination of methods (in vivo electrophysiology, calcium imaging with miniscopes, viral tools, deep learning and behavior) I aim at identifying a thalam-cortical circuit driving the awakenings caused by pain.