My primary area of research is pain. My approach throughout the years has been multifaceted, investigating a wide range of mechanisms underlying pain and treatment of pain using advanced neurophysiological methods and psychophysical measurements. In my lab I study brain functions in relation to pain by combining brain imaging (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) and electrophysiological techniques (electroencephalography (EEG), evoked potentials and trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)).   I am using the above mentioned technologies to explore activity patterns and neuro-anatomical changes in the brain of patients with clinical pain conditions and comprehend the interaction between pain, cognition and emotions in chronic pain. Additionally, I study brain mechanisms that subserve and regulate pain in the healthy state in order to identify alterations in mechanisms supporting pain modulation in chronic pain disorders including their therapeutic relevance. The development of better diagnosis and treatment of pain is currently hampered by incomplete understanding of individual differences in pain and the impact that they have on pain treatment is particularly limited.  Toward this aim I am studying the role individual differences in brain morphology and neurophysiology in the prediction of treatment success.

My lab’s main interest is in understanding brain-behavior interactions in the context of pain, sensory-motor integration and high functions. The lab’s aim is at bridging the fields of basic neuroscience and clinical neurophysiology to advance our understanding of how the brain functions in health and in pain and sensory-motor diseases. 

The lab is equipped with advanced neurophysiological technologies including:

• A state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques such as structural and functional MRI.
• 64 electrodes electroencephalography (EEG) system for EEG and evoked potentials recordings.
• 8 channels electromyography (EMG system) for recording the electrical characteristics of the muscle tissue and the response of nerves to electrical stimulation.
• Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and a neuronavigation system used for non-invasive brain stimulation in order to measure activity and function of specific brain circuits in humans.
• Sensory psychophysical measure tools including the TSA and the PATHWAY advanced systems used for pain and sensory evaluation.