Neuroscience |
The principal aim of our research is to understand the relationship between the nervous system and the immune system, with particular emphasis on how immune cells and their mediators affect chronic pain conditions, such as neuropathic pain, and to assess immunotherapeutic approaches. This knowledge can then be used to identify target molecules or cells for therapeutic purposes in reducing chronic pain.
We useÌýin vitroÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýin vivoÌýmodels of pain to investigate the neuroimmune crosstalk in the injured nervous system. Animal models include peripheral nerve injury, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, inflammatory pain, and an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, EAE; a model of multiple sclerosis).ÌýIn vitroÌýmodels include primary cultures of dorsal root ganglia sensory neurons, microglia and regulatory T cells.Ìý
Current projects
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Multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic inflammatory disease of the spinal cord and brain, is the most common disabling neurological disease in young adults. Chronic pain is a common debilitating condition associated with MS. Pain symptoms that arise from damage to the nervous system, such as facial pain, are highly prevalent and, unfortunately, still lack efficient therapeutic agents. Most current medications for chronic pain are delivered systemically, are only partially effective, and are associated with frequent severe side effects. This project proposes a preclinical investigation in a mouse model of MS of a novel approach for targeted delivery of a pain-relieving drug to reduce facial pain symptoms. This will be carried out using selective targeting of sensory neurons related to the face with gold nanoparticles coupled to a neuronal tracer and an approved drug for pain modulation to achieve a specific and controlled delivery of the nanomaterial to the brain. The research outcomes will significantly advance the development of new selective nanomedicine that could overcome the limitations of current analgesic drug delivery in chronic pain associated with MS.
Project supporters: UNSW Medicine Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addictions Theme and SPHERE Clinical Academic Group Seed Grant (2022-2023) & MS Australia (2023-2025)Ìý
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Inflammation in the central nervous system has been implicated in neuropathic pain, a debilitating chronic condition that imposes a huge economic and social burden. This project investigates the effects of immunotherapeutic approaches, using spinal delivery of regulatory T cells and their novel anti-inflammatory mediator interleukin-35, on the molecular signature of CNS immune cells (microglia) and on the profile of immune responses in CNS boundaries using pre-clinical models of neuropathic pain due to nervous system injury or disease.
Project supporter: National Health & Medical Research Council - Project Grant| APP1162060 (2019-2023)
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Electrical neuromodulation using neural implants is an increasingly popular therapy for chronic pain management, with several key advantages over traditional pharmaceutical approaches. A new type of neural modulation approach, ionic direct current (iDC), dampens or blocks the responses of hyperexcitable pain fibres. This project investigates the potential of iDC to treat pain in preclinical models of neuropathic pain and its suitability for chronic implantation and stimulation using a combination of nerve recordings (electrophysiology), behaviour, histology, and biomedical engineering.
Project support: National Health & Medical Research Council - Project Grant| APP1187416 (2020-2023)
Highlighted publications
- Wang W, Hassan MM, Kapoor-Kaushik N, Livni L, Musrie B, Tang J, Mahmud Z, Lai S, Wich PR, Ananthanarayanan V, Moalem-Taylor G, Mao G. Neural Tracing Protein-Functionalized Nanoparticles Capable of Fast Retrograde Axonal Transport in Live Neurons. Small. 2024 Apr 22:e2311921.
- Fiore NT, Keating BA, Chen Y, Williams SI, Moalem-Taylor G. Differential Effects of Regulatory T Cells in the Meninges and Spinal Cord of Male and Female Mice with Neuropathic Pain. Cells. 2023 Sep 20;12(18):2317.
- Fiore NT, Debs SR, Hayes JP, Duffy SS, Moalem-Taylor G. Pain-resolving immune mechanisms in neuropathic pain. Nat Rev Neurol. 2023 Apr;19(4):199-220.
- Fiore NT, Yin Z, Guneykaya D, Gauthier CD, Hayes JP, D'Hary A, Butovsky O, Moalem-Taylor G. Sex-specific transcriptome of spinal microglia in neuropathic pain due to peripheral nerve injury. Glia. 2022 Apr;70(4):675-696.
- Livni L, Keating BA, Fiore NT, Lees JG, Goldstein D, Moalem-Taylor G. Effects of combined chemotherapy and anti-programmed cell death protein 1 treatment on peripheral neuropathy and neuroinflammation in mice. Pain. 2022 Jan 1;163(1):110-124.
Our experts
Associate Professor Gila Moalem-Taylor - Group Leader
Moalem-Taylor graduated with a PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. She was then awarded a Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship, carried out at The University of Cincinnati Medical Centre (USA). She then moved to the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia, where she was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (2004-2007), followed by the NSW Office of Science and Medical Research Career Development Fellowship (2010-2013). In 2014, she was appointed as a combined track (teaching & research) academic in the Department of Physiology, where she leads the Neuroimmune Pain Research Group at the Translational Neuroscience Facility, School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW. Since her PhD, Moalem-Taylor has worked primarily in the field of neuroimmunology. Her current research focuses on the role of immune cells and their mediators in chronic pain caused by peripheral nerve injury, autoimmune diseases of the nervous system such as multiple sclerosis, and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. She manages a team of postdocs, undergraduate research students (Honours), and PhD students. She is also the Postgraduate Coordinator at the School of Biomedical Sciences.
Associated academics
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Research assistant
PhD students
- Jessica HayesÌý
- Sophie DebsÌý
- Catherine GuoÌý
- Tom SuÌý
- Yarden GilÌý
Research Theme