Dr. Alex Binshtok

My interest in pain mechanisms started during my B.Sc. studies and was reinforced during my subsequently clinical work as a physical therapist. I worked as a physical therapist for 10 years concentrating primarily on treatment of pain. While treating hundreds of patients, I came face to face with all forms of pain. With time I realized that, although most patients recover well after acute trauma, those that develop chronic inflammatory or neuropathic pain usually do not respond well to the current available treatments.

I realized that in order to develop novel and more effective treatment approaches, I needed a much more detailed understanding of the mechanisms of pain. Therefore, I decided to change direction and find a way to combine my clinical goal of helping people recover from pain with research in basic science.

Currently I am studying the complex mechanisms that underlie the experience of pain with the hope that a better understanding can lead to more successful methods of control and treatment.

My research into the diversity of pain phenomena adopts a multidisciplinary approach; it incorporates novel imaging techniques and electrophysiological, histological and behavioral experiments to study pain-related mechanisms at the molecular and cellular level, as well as the level of neuronal networks and behavior. It is anticipated that this integrative approach will yield a fundamental understanding of the multidimensional mechanisms involved in the unremitting suffering of pain experienced by so many people. New targets for the treatment of pain will be able to be identified and lead to the development of new pain-specific anesthetic drugs that could eliminate the sensation of pain much more effectively than the current available painkillers.