Föreläsningar och seminarier A seminar with Aziz Moqrich, Research Director at CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
"Functional significance of primary sensory neurons diversity: A focus on chronic pain"
Lecturer: Aziz Moqrich
Aziz Moqrich is a CNRS Research Director (DR1) leading the "Chronic Pain: Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms" team at the Institute of Developmental Biology in Marseille (IBDM, UMR7288). He is an established principal investigator with 17 years of experience in laboratory management. He is an expert in mouse genetics and pain behaviour. He has made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of somatic sensory biology, the molecular characterisation of primary sensory neurons that underlie the perception of pain.
A. Moqrich is a frequently invited speaker at national and international events (over 120 invitations worldwide). He is an Associate Editor of PAIN and has served as Vice President of the ANR (Neuro-CE-16 2017-2020). He received an ATIP-CNRS grant in 2006, coordinated several ANR grants (2006 to 2022), an ERC grant (2010 to 2015) and an Equipe-FRM grant (2020). A. Moqrich has been awarded the Fondation Unité-GuerraPaul-Beaudoin-Lambrecht-Maïano, Institut de France prize and the best scientific award for Moroccans in the world.
A. Moqrich's team currently consists of 11 members, including 3 CNRS permanent scientists, 2 CNRS research associate, 1 AMU associate professor and 5 PhD students. AM is also co-founder of Tafalgie Therapeutics, a start-up company specialising in the development of next-generation painkillers without the disabling side effects of opioids. Tafalgie Therapeutics was awarded the prestigious EIC accelerator grant in 2023.
Lecture topic
In mammals, perception of pain is initiated by activity in particular peripheral and central neurons. The mechanisms of pain include specialized receptive organs, selective and convergent pathways, plasticity of responsiveness and interactive modulation. During the last 40 years, a great wealth of information has accumulated to show that peripheral sensory neurons act as detectors of tissue damaging stimuli, and that activity within these nociceptors play a pivotal role in pain sensation. Nociceptive neurons encompass an extremely heterogeneous population with respect to their morphological (size and degree of myelination), anatomical (spinal cord and peripheral targets connectivity) and electrophysiological (responses to noxious stimuli of different nature) properties. In spite of the efforts, the functional significance of this remarkable diversity has remained elusive. During my presentation, I will provide an overview regarding our contribution of how these neuronal subpopulations of sensory neurons are molecularly specified and functionally diversified. I will then focus on our latest finding in which we contribute to a better understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the transition from acute to chronic pain.