London Pain Consortium: Making a difference
Pain lends itself to the current era of translational research, with intellectual achievements in the fundamental understanding of pain also leading to clinical benefits. Pain is also a good model for understanding the central nervous system; many of the fundamental processes of neurobiology are prominent in pain mechanisms, and problems of memory, consciousness and perception can be addressed with studies in the pain field.
The dearth of analgesic drugs is one of the major challenges facing clinicians seeking to treat chronic pain. Research by LPC scientists is helping to tackle this by uncovering key parts of the pain-signalling process that could serve as drug targets. Where previously there were just a handful of drug targets, there are now dozens and this offers great hope for diminishing the burden of chronic disease in the near future.
The LPC provides a paradigm for how large collaborations between different scientific groups with a common aim can work together effectively. Modern science requires researchers to conduct more comprehensive research to make an impact, forcing them to either learn more techniques or collaborate. It also helps if scientists are not direct competitors but complement each other, adding value to each other's approaches. This provides a good platform for joint funding applications that offer a breadth of coverage not possible on an individual basis.
All of the researchers involved in the LPC are independently funded. What the Trust's funding provides is the resources and catalyst for collaboration with other people who may have different ways of thinking. Each of the groups brings different research expertise, knowledge and techniques to the Consortium. Their interactions strengthen the performance of all researchers involved, broadening their research interests and in some cases changing the direction of research for the better.
But above all, the Consortium's key remit is training. The LPC takes young, bright and enthusiastic postdoctoral and PhD students interested in pain research and equips them with the skills, knowledge and outlook required to be a good scientist. It runs one of the Trust's Four-year PhD Studentship Programmes with first-year PhD students undertaking a 'rotation' of placements in three different LPC-affiliated laboratories. This provides an invaluable overview of pain research, from a basic understanding of pain pathways to training in molecular genetic and neurophysiological techniques, animal models and clinical treatments. This is facilitated by the common interest and frequent interaction among LPC laboratories – which are further strengthened through the medium of the student.
All LPC students benefit from experiencing different laboratories, techniques and mentorship. It empowers them to decide on the area of research they wish to pursue and how, with each able to spend time in multiple laboratories using whichever tools are best suited to their project. The LPC also runs training days and a residential summer school every two years, the latter involving other pain research communities outside of London.
The regular contact and dialogue between students, researchers and principal investigators is one of the LPC's biggest strengths and one borne of its collaborative nature. It emphasises interaction more than individual actions and success through synergy.
