Flavia Mancini – Neuroscience of Pain

The problem of pain

One in 3 people worldwide suffer from a pain that cannot be cured but can only be carried. Chronic pain is not just a symptom, it is a debilitating disease that severely interferes with simple daily activities. Most people struggle to cope with it. In the desperate attempt to get rid of the pain, too many people become addicted to opioids with devastating consequences: in US, prescription painkillers claim as many lives per year as car crashes. The societal cost of chronic pain is unsustainable, being higher than heart disease and cancer combined. Therefore, we urgently need greater prevention and better treatments.

My research aims at understanding the brain mechanisms that lead to both acute and chronic pain. The ultimate objective of my work is to develop interventions to prevent pain from becoming chronic and promote recovery.

Who is Flavia Mancini?

I obtained a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2012. During my PhD, I have worked 2 years in Milan and 2 years at University College London. After my PhD, I continued working at UCL under the joint supervision of Patrick Haggard and Giandomenico Iannetti for three years, and an additional year as part of the London Pain Consortium funded by a Strategic Award of the Wellcome Trust. My work aimed at investigating how the human brain encodes how much and where it hurts.

I am now based at the Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. I am also a bye-fellow at Murray Edwards College.

Email me | Or watch this space.

What do I research?

Pain: sensory processing in the human brain
Pain: learning mechanisms

Tweets by @mancini_flavia

Where to find me

University of Cambridge
Department of Engineering
Computational and Biological Learning Lab
Trumpington Street
Cambridge, CB2 1PZ

Get in touch

fm456@cam.ac.uk

Follow me

Twitter

News in pain research

Nature
Pain Research Forum
British Pain Society
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