Congratulations to Mallory Perry, BSN, RN, a School of Nursing PhD student, who has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the ENRS/Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science Dissertation Award.  The award will be presented at the ENRS 30^th Annual Scientific Sessions Anniversary Celebration Reception in Newark, NJ.  Ms. Perry will receive $5,000 of funding in support of her research project, Assessing the Management of Pediatric Postoperative Pain with Genetics.  Through this study Ms. Perry aims to examine: (1) relationships among pre-surgical behavioral, sociocultural and environmental factors, peripheral and central sensitivity measured by quantitative sensory testing, and mRNA expression levels of candidate pain sensitivity genes; (2) differential expression of pain sensitivity genes between adolescents who develop persistent post-surgical pain and those who do not; and (3) the influence of behavioral, sociocultural and environmental factors, postsurgical peripheral and central pain sensitivity, and mRNA expression of pain sensitivity genes on pain severity and interference over the postsurgical period.

Congratulations to Kyle M. Baumbauer, PhD, who has received the 2017 Award in Pain from the Rita Allen Foundation and the American Pain Society for his grant application, Targeting ASIC3 for disruption of nociceptor sensitization following spinal cord injury.  Dr. Baumbauer is an Assistant Professor with a dual appointment in the UConn School of Nursing and Department of Neuroscience.  The Rita Allen Award in Pain is a prestigious national award given to early career scientists in the field of pain research.  Dr. Baumbauer’s project was chosen for three years of funding and a total of $150,000.  The award letter noted that the competition this year was particularly intense.  Dr. Baumbauer will be recognized at the upcoming American Pain Society Annual Meeting President’s Reception in Pittsburgh, PA on Thursday, May 18, at 7:00 p.m.

His project is focused on examining a novel role for Acid Sensing Ion Channel Subunit 3 (ASIC3) in the initiation and maintenance of nociceptor sensitization following spinal cord injury (SCI).  The project capitalizes on the unique skills of his team, as one of the few in the country that can perform analysis of gene expression and electrophysiologically characterized nociceptors.  Dr. Baumbauer’s laboratory is also one of few that examines the role of peripheral nociceptive neurons in the generation of pain following SCI.  The proposed work is critical for our understanding of the nature of pain following spinal cord injury, in particular, and central nervous system insult, in general.  With respect to SCI, the identification of a specific gene that can be targeted at the time of SCI would be a groundbreaking discovery that could revolutionize care for the spinally injured, as well as patient quality of life.

Currently 25 states and the District of Columbia have medical cannabis programs. On Nov. 8, Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota will vote on medical cannabis ballot initiatives, while Montana will vote on repealing limitations in its existing law.Despite claims that cannabis or its extracts relieve all sorts of maladies, the research has been sparse and the results mixed. At the moment, we just don’t know enough about cannabis or its elements to judge how effective it is as a medicine.What does the available research suggest about medical cannabis, and why do we know so little about it?

Read the full article on the Conversation and UCONN Today

Congratulations to Joseph Fetta, a School of Nursing sophomore, who has received a spring 2016 UConn IDEA* grant award from the Office of Undergraduate Research.  The award is for his proposal Memory Deficit Due to  Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Concussion in Incoming College Students.  He will use the funds to screen the incoming class of UConn students regarding their history of TBI and concussion. Following the screening, he will use established instruments to implement and test a memory enhancing intervention. Mr. Fetta’s advisor and mentor is Dr. Angela Starkweather.

Joey also spent the summer at the National Institute of Nursing Research with Dr. Jessica Gill (https://irp.nih.gov/pi/jessica-gill)! He was selected by Dr. Gill based on his interest of traumatic brain injury genetics, as part of the Summer Internship Program https://www.training.nih.gov/programs/sip.

Congratulations to Dr. Angela Starkweather  who has been awarded Scholarship Facilitation Funds for fall 2016 through the Office of the Vice President for Research.  Dr. Angela Starkweather’s funds are for Optimizing Yoga for Chronic Low Back Pain.

Dr. Angela Starkweather has been awarded a prestigious NINR P20 Center of Excellence grant (P20NR016605). The purpose of the Center for Accelerating Precision Pain Self-Management (CAPPS-M) at the University of Connecticut School of Nursing (UConn SON) is to advance theory-based symptom SM interventions, with a focus on pain, and improve pain self-management and health outcomes in diverse populations with acute and chronic pain. The purpose of this application in response to the RFA-NR-16-001 for Centers in Self- Management of Symptoms: Building Research Teams for the Future (P20) is to build interdisciplinary teams and feasibility research in precision pain SM through centralized infrastructure, mentorship, and shared resources. The Specific Aims of the CAPPS-M are to: (1) Select and support pilot studies that advance the science of precision pain self-management for individuals and families across the lifespan; (2) Expand the number and quality of theory-driven research projects aimed at understanding the influence of the biological (genomic/-omic) context of pain on self-management process and outcomes; (3) Enhance the research infrastructure by expanding the number of nurse scientists and interdisciplinary collaborators involved in advancing the science of pain self-management; (4) Build the capacity for sustainable research teams focused on precision pain self-management through collaborations among interdisciplinary scientists, community networks of individuals and families and partner centers and institutions. We will achieve these aims by: 1) building upon the relationships and infrastructure initiated through investments made by the School of Nursing (SON) and University to support interdisciplinary pain research; 2) focusing on the integration of the biological context of pain within a pain SM science paradigm to further develop precision interventions for individuals and families; 3) advancing the science of pain SM by using the Individual and Family Self-Management Theory as a framework in pilot projects; and 4) capitalizing on our strengths in basic and clinical pain research, genetic/genomic science, community engagement and partnership with the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science