Search

Our goal is to better understand the mechanisms through which sleep disturbances increase pain and the risk of developing a chronic pain condition, such as musculoskeletal pain, low back pain, and post-acute infection syndromes, including Long COVID. We focus on identifying inflammatory (pro-inflammatory, counter-inflammatory, inflammatory resolving) as well as central pain-modulatory pathways linking sleep disturbances with pain in humans. To do this work, our team designs and implements complex experimental models of human sleep-wake patterns that are representative of sleep disturbances such as insomnia in the general population and in many medical conditions, especially sleep problems experienced in chronic pain disorders. Our team applies excellence in the measurement and analysis of sleep using various technologies (wearable sleep monitors, electronic diaries, EEG-based sleep assessments). Our team assesses inflammatory, counter-inflammatory, and pro-resolving mediators and their interactions in the circulation as well as at cellular level. Our team has developed and implemented comprehensive pain testing paradigms to capture the status of various somatosensory modalities (heat, pressure, cold) and functioning of central pain-modulatory pathways (pain sensitization, pain inhibition). Our research also highlights response differences between females and males to sleep deficiency, in order to better understand mechanisms that may be contributing to the over-representation of women in the many diseases characterized by sleep disturbances, immunopathology, fatigue, and pain. Team head: Monika Haack