Exploring molecular mechanisms for the chronification of pain

Derek Molliver, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, University of New England. Derek Molliver received his B.A. from Williams College and completed his PhD in Neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis in 1997, studying the role of neurotrophic factors in the development of peripheral sensory neuron identity. He then took a postdoctoral fellowship at the Vollum Institute of Oregon Health and Science University, examining the function of purinergic G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in adult nociceptive sensory neurons. He was appointed in 2006 to Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology and Neurobiology in the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research at the University of Pittsburgh, where he managed an NIH-funded research program studying the regulation of nociceptor function by neurotrophic factors and purinergic GPCRs. Dr. Molliver joined the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in the Department of Biomedical Sciences as an Associate Professor in 2014 with an RO1 from NIGMS to examine changes in intracellular signaling pathways in sensory neurons that lead to persistent pain. Current projects focus on the control of signaling pathways activated by GPCRs through the assembly of modular signaling complexes.