Discoveries

Why does a burn cause more pain than a pinch?

2020-10-21

A study highlights the mechanism responsible for differential processing of these pain signals in the spinal cord.

Story by Jean Hamann, translation by CERVO

Why is it that the pain of a burn seems more intense and lasts longer than the pain of a pinch? "Intuitively, I thought it was because the burn caused more physical damage to the skin," says Professor Yves De Koninck of the Faculty of Medicine and the CERVO Brain Research Centre. Our recent work, however, suggests another explanation for this phenomenon and this lead is helping us to better understand how the...

New paper in Nature Communications

2020-02-17

Pain hypersensitivity and many other diseases could be associated with a protein that acts as an ion pump in neurons.

The research team led by Yves De Koninck, at Université Laval's Faculté de médecine and the CERVO Brain Research Centre had already targeted a protein called KCC2 as a key player in the mechanism leading to pain hypersensitivity. A ...

New publication in Nature Medicine shows existing drugs can alleviate morphine withdrawal

2017-03-08

A recent publication in Nature Medicine co-authored by Robert Bonin and Yves De Koninck offers new hope for people addicted to morphine and fentanyl. By investigating the underlying causes of withdrawal symptoms, the researchers identified a protein located in immune cells of the spinal cord called pannexin-1 as a major player, which lead them to look for drugs that block pannexin-1 as a way to alleviate symptoms. The team found a drug previously approved to treat gout, called probenecid, that worked in this way. Importantly, the drug does not affect the ability of opioids to relieve...

Knitting neurons - in the top 10 discoveries of 2016 for Québec Science

2017-01-22

A discovery made in collaboration with Yves De Koninck of the Neurophotonics Centre has been listed as one of the top 10 discoveries of 2016 by Québec Science, and is a candidate for the magazine's people's choice award for discovery of the year. This discovery, a collaboration between neuroscientists and physicists, offers hope for repair of nerve connections, and even a way to create new ones.

Learn more about this discovey in the Québec Science magazine, and vote for this discovery here: ...

Cover of Journal of Neuroscience

2016-09-16

The Journal of Neuroscience has recently featured on its front page a figure from an article De Koninck laboratory members contributed to. The article studies the localisation of a specific receptor on neurons, the Coxsackievirus Adenovirus Receptor (CAR), in healthy brains, but also during development and in neurodegenerative disease conditions. The study suggests CAR has a role in adult neurogenesis, synapses, and plasticity in the hippocampus.
View the about the cover section: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/36/...

Teaching the Nervous System to Forget Chronic Pain

2014-08-18

Research recently published by the De Koninck lab showed that hyperalgesia could be reversed when reactivated, in a manner similar to memory reconsolidation. This important discovery was recently featured on PBS's NovaNext website

The original research was published in Nature Neuroscience

Discovery of a new means to erase pain

2014-07-10

A study published in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience by Yves De Koninck and Robert Bonin reveals that it is possible to relieve pain hypersensitivity using a new method that involves rekindling pain so that it can subsequently be erased. This discovery could lead to novel means to alleviate chronic pain.

Université Laval published a press release about this important discovery

Read the original research article in Nature...

Université Laval and Roche team up to test promising new drugs

2014-01-13

Université Laval and Roche recently signed a collaborative research agreement to test promising compounds for several disorders of the brain, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Thanks to this joint initiative, Yves De Koninck and his team will be able to pursue the development of the many scientific discoveries and advances they have made in the last 10 years. The joint research program will focus on evaluating the potential of various molecules affecting the activity of a protein called KCC2 normally present in neurons of the brain and spinal cord. Dr. De Koninck’s recent...

Discovery of a new drug target for chronic pain and other neurological disorders

2013-10-10

The identification of compounds that can restore normal chloride levels in cells shows promise to treat several neurological and psychiatric disorders, including epilepsy, motor spasticity, stress, anxiety, schizophrenia, morphine-induced hyperalgesia and chronic pain. New results published by the De Koninck laboratory in Nature Medicine shows one such compounds was able to alleviate hypersensitivity in a rat chronic pain model. These results suggest drugs targeting chloride extrusion could lead to the development of novel treatments for chronic pain and many more neurological disorders...

A multimodal micro-optrode - blog post on openoptogeneticsblog.org

2013-04-15

Read A multimodal micro-optrode - a blog post in openoptogenetics about the multimodal micro-optrodes developed by Yoann Lechasseur, Suzie Dufour and the rest of the YDK lab team and collaborators:

http://openoptogeneticsblog.org/?p=550

The post discusses two papers

A microprobe for parallel optical and electrical recordings from single neurons in vivo Nature Methods 8, 319–325 (2011) doi:10.1038/nmeth.1572
by Yoan LeChasseur, Suzie Dufour, Guillaume Lavertu, Cyril Bories, Martin Deschênes, Réal Vallée...

Yves De Koninck laboratory

Discoveries

Why does a burn cause more pain than a pinch?

New paper in Nature Communications

New publication in Nature Medicine shows existing drugs can alleviate morphine withdrawal

Knitting neurons - in the top 10 discoveries of 2016 for Québec Science

Cover of Journal of Neuroscience

Teaching the Nervous System to Forget Chronic Pain

Discovery of a new means to erase pain

Université Laval and Roche team up to test promising new drugs

Discovery of a new drug target for chronic pain and other neurological disorders

A multimodal micro-optrode - blog post on openoptogeneticsblog.org

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