Understanding Pain: An Unpleasant Sensory and Emotional Experience in Your Brain

Faculty: Dr. Bin Feng

The current epidemic of prescription opioid abuse can be tracked back to more than a decade ago, when chronic pain became accepted as a disease of its own right and doctors started to prescribe opioids to patients for the humane need of managing pain. In this workshop, teachers will gain hands-on experience on pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience in the brain. In particular, we will demonstrate that pain can be evoked in the absence of any tissue injurious stimuli using a thermal grill device as shown in the above figure. Teachers will learn how to build a low-cost thermal grill of their own, including fundamentals of CAD modeling using the free software Blender (blender.org) and 3-D printing. In addition, teachers will be introduced to the recent advances in various neuromodulation techniques as non-pharmacological alternatives for treating chronic pain.

Fellowships Available: one (1) full or two (2) partials

Recommended For: This workshop is recommended for Biology, Physics, General Science, and Technical Education teachers.

Host Department Major: Biomedical Engineering


Contact:

Dr. Bin Feng

Assistant Professor

Department of Biomedical Engineering

fengb@uconn.edu