Professor Victoria Chapman

I lead a pain research team focused on the pharmacology of chronic pain. During the last 25 years we have used experimental models of acute and chronic pain to investigate the roles of receptors, ion channels and enzymes in mediating the responses to noxious stimuli and their contribution to the transition from acute to chronic pain. Working alongside clinical colleagues, we have used tissues collected from people undergoing knee joint replacement for chronic osteoarthritis pain to identify potential novel targets for treatment and then back-translated these findings into clinically relevant experimental models in the rodent to investigate the underlying pharmacological mechanisms and sites of action. Areas of particular focus of our research have included cannabinoid-based analgesics, targeting nerve growth factor and brain derived neurotrophic factor for osteoarthritis pain and more recently the therapeutic potential of the resolution pathways for the treatment of chronic pain.