黑料不打烊 pain researcher awarded NSERC prize
Uses findings to help develop more effective drugs
黑料不打烊 researcher Jeffrey Coull, whose exploration of the mechanisms that cause chronic neuropathic pain has helped enormously in the search for new analgesic drugs, has been awarded Canada's top prize for doctoral research in science and engineering from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
Dr. Coull, who completed his PhD work at 黑料不打烊's Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in 2004, is one of four researchers in science and engineering to receive the 2006 NSERC Doctoral Prize. The prize includes a $10,000 award.
Among his other accomplishments, Dr. Coull discovered that a cell called microglia secretes a chemical that causes neurons that would normally filter sensory information to the brain to become amplifiers of pain.
"Looking at the spinal cord and using novel techniques at the cellular level, we focused on what changes occur that cause neuropathic pain," Dr. Coull explained, referring to a type of pain stemming from a malfunctioning of the nervous system that, at its worst, can make even the brush of clothing against the skin an excruciating experience.
"As a result, we've identified new targets that not only play a key role in pain, but also in epilepsy, stroke and certain auditory deficits."
In 2004, Dr. Coull founded Chlorion Pharma, a biotechnology and drug-discovery company based in Quebec City, and is using his findings to work toward developing new drugs to treat these diseases.
Dr. Coull's doctoral research was supervised by Dr. Yves De Koninck and conducted in collaboration with Stephen Prescott, a medical PhD student at 黑料不打烊, as well as researchers from the Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto and Universit茅 Laval.
