Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Chronic Pain is highly prevalent in the autoimmune disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and women with MS tend to be affected more by chronic pain than men. Additionally, conventional pain treatment strategies are often ineffective against chronic pain in MS regardless of sex. To begin to develop effective pain treatment strategies we must first characterize the mechanisms underlying pain in MS in both sexes. My project will employ a mouse model of MS alongside a cellular model of pain-sensing cells isolated from mice. I will aim to characterize the specific pathways in these pain-sensing cells which lead to chronic pain in males and females. My preliminary work indicates that male and female mice activate important cellular stress pathways differentially in this MS animal model and simplified cellular paradigm. I will use these results to probe further into how these pathways may cause pain, and to test possible interventions. Understanding these mechanisms and how they differ between the sexes will aid in the development of future targeted therapeutics for chronic pain in MS.