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CANCELED - From Peppers to Pit Vipers: Natural Products as Probes of the Pain Pathway

Air date: Monday, March 10, 2014, 10:00:00 AM
Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Description: The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) presents the Integrative Medicine Research Lecture series. The series provides overviews of the current state of research and practice involving complementary health therapies, and explores perspectives on the emerging discipline of integrative medicine.

Dr. Julius is seeking to determine the molecular basis of somatosensation – the process whereby we experience touch and temperature – with an emphasis on identifying molecules that detect noxious (pain-producing) stimuli. His research focus is also on understanding how somatosensation is altered in response to tissue or nerve injury. Dr. Julius’ approach has been to identify molecular targets for natural products that mimic the psychophysical effects of commonly encountered somatosensory stimuli, such as heat or cold, and to then ask how these molecules are activated or modulated by noxious stimuli or injury.

For more information go to http://nccam.nih.gov/news/events/IMlectures
Author: David Julius, Ph.D., Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology, Medicine Professor, Chair of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco
Runtime: 1 hour