My research focuses on uncovering the neuronal mechanisms underlying pain and hypersensitivity in chronic pain conditions such as endometriosis, which is a disease of the uterus where endometrial tissue invades surrounding tissue regions, causing pain and inflammation. While the topic of pain and its detrimental effects on the body is something that is easily understandable to a general audience, challenges arise when I aim to explain the methods I use in my research to induce an accurate pain model of chronic pain conditions in order to test potential therapeutic drugs. One strategy I have found to be effective in explaining the methods of my research is to first describe the purpose of my study and how I have designed my experiment to isolate variables in order to gain an understanding of the goal of the study.

That is, the purpose of my research is to identify potential therapeutic targets in the pain mechanisms underlying hypersensitivity and pain in endometriosis because identifying which biological molecules are directly involved in the transmission of pain in endometriosis allows for the introduction of inhibition of the release of these molecules by potential new therapeutic drugs. Thus, the end goal of my research is to discover these therapeutic drugs that alleviate pain in endometriosis and tie together these effects with supporting data found in my mechanistic studies. To do this, I need to study endometrial pain in an animal model. In my project, I am using a non-invasive mouse model of endometriosis where I induce endometriosis in the experimental group of my study by injecting endometrial tissue into recipient mice. Then, I will administer potential non-addictive analgesic drugs to see whether the drug is able to alleviate the progression of pain in mice with endometriosis in my mouse model. If successful, I predict that behavioral testing of the mice will show that mice with endometriosis experience less pain and sensitivity in their pelvic region after the administration of my potential therapeutic drug, which in my study is the drug nicotinamide mononucleotide, which is a mast-cell stabilizer – a drug that prevents immune cells known as mast cells from releasing pro-inflammatory and pain molecules such as histamine.

By explaining my research by starting with the purpose and goal of my work, I feel as I am more able to convey the importance of my research and guide my audience to understanding exactly why I chose to design my study the way I did.

As I aspire to practice as a physician in the future, being able to talk about my research in pain mechanisms in the clinical setting not only with colleagues but also with patients is critical because I must be able to frame in a concise and comprehensible manner exactly what the significance of my studies are so patients and peers alike are able to gain insight from my work. This will allow my research to be applicable outside of academia as people afflicted with chronic pain conditions stand to benefit from understanding the mechanisms that underlie their condition and the potential treatment options that may exist for them in the near future.