Tamara King, Ph.D.

Research interests center around mechanistic analysis of pain, with a specific focus on cancer-induced bone pain, osteoarthritis induced joint pain and chronic pain induced by nerve injury (neuropathic pain). An important aspect of my research is using approaches that allow for mechanistic evaluation of affective/motivational aspects of pain and pain relief in the preclinical setting. Such an approach will lead to the discovery of molecules that can effectively ameliorate ongoing pain across various preclinical models of pain, including cancer induced bone pain, osteoarthritis induced joint pain, and nerve-injury induced pain. An overarching goal of my research is to examine mechanisms driving distinctive aspects of these pain states to foster development of novel therapies for a more comprehensive treatment of chronic pain in patients. Such advances would improve pain mamagement with diminished side effects compared to the currently available options (e.g. opioids in cancer bone pain).