The Challenge of Chronic Pain: from Genomics to Therapy

Pain is one of our oldest evolutionary traits. It can help to modulate our interactions with the environment. However, chronic pain is a major healthcare challenge across the globe. Approximately 20% of the world’s population suffers from ongoing pain that severely impacts their quality of life.

Many of these individuals are poorly served with currently available treatment modalities. This can lead to opioid abuse and overdose following their use of prescription opioids intended for pain relief. An opioid epidemic that has stemmed largely from the desire to treat chronic pain reveals the root problem: the critical need to discover, test and implement new, improved and safe therapies.

This year’s conference will showcase the most recent discoveries and potential avenues for therapies in chronic pain research and treatment. Leaders in pain research, including those working in genomics, translational research and clinical therapies will present the latest and most promising findings, as well as the challenges left to overcome.

Topics will include the genetic and clinical landscape of pain disorders and the mechanistic underpinnings of pain pathways in the central and peripheral nervous systems. We will also focus on new technological approaches in pain research and how best to use large-scale genomics resources to improve pain research in humans. In addition to invited talks, the programme will include mentoring and networking sessions, short oral presentations, posters and poster pitch talks for a highly interactive meeting.

Trainees, basic scientists, clinicians, industry developers and educators from across the globe are encouraged to participate in these discussions, which promise to increase our understanding of pain mechanisms and facilitate a path to improved therapies.

The conference will start at approximately 13.00 on Wednesday 29 November and close at approximately 13.30 on Friday 1 December 2023. All times are in GMT.

Discussions will focus on a variety of exciting topics, including:

• Genetics of pain
• Technological advances
• Large-scale genomic resources to improve human pain research
• Pain mechanism I: central nervous system
• Pain mechanism II: peripheral nervous system
• Therapies for pain

Scientific programme committee

Niels Eijkelkamp
UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands

Rohini Kuner
Heidelberg University, Germany 

Ingo Kurth
Aachen University, Germany

Shafaq Sikandar
Queen Mary University of London, UK

Keynote speakers

Allan Basbaum
University of California San Francisco, USA

Rebeccah Slater
University of Oxford, UK

Confirmed speakers

Nadine Attal
University Versailles Saint Quentin, France

Sir Mark Caulfield
Barts Life Sciences, UK

Valery Grinevich
Heidelberg University, Germany

Ingo Kurth
Aachen University, Germany

Sandra Lechner
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, USA

Stefan Lechner
University Medical Center Hamburg - Eppendorf, Germany

Xiaoyi Li
University of Washington, USA

Michelle Roche
University of Galway, Ireland

Blair Smith
University of Dundee, UK

Diana Tavares Ferreira
University of Texas at Dallas, USA

Nurcan Üçeyler
University of Wuerzburg, Germany

Geoff Woods
University of Cambridge, UK

Organisers – Wellcome Connecting Science

Lucy Criddle, Conference & Events Organiser
Nagehan Ramazanoglu Bahadir, Scientific Programme Officer

Registration deadline: 31 October (in person) | 21 November 2023 (virtual)

Deadlines close at 23.59 GMT.

The in-person registration fee includes:

• Full access to scientific programme: oral and poster presentations, and networking on campus
• Access to the online conference portal to network with online participants
• Meals (lunch and dinner) and refreshments during the conference. Breakfast will be provided for delegates who have booked onsite accommodation.
• Recordings of the live-stream sessions, which will be available ‘on-demand’ for four weeks after the event ends

Virtual registration fee includes:

• Access to the virtual event portal (Log in details will be emailed a few days before the event starts)
• Live-stream sessions, including posters and online networking channels
• Recordings of the live-stream sessions, available ‘on-demand’ for four weeks after the event ends.

* To promote more inclusive scientific discussions with international colleagues at our conferences, delegates based in Lower and Middle-Income Countries can register for free (see list of countries here).

Payments: Please note that payment can only be made with Mastercard or Visa credit cards.

If you are an editor or journalist, please contact the conference organiser for more information about the discounted fee.

Accommodation
Booked accommodation is for the nights of 29 and 30 November 2023.
Please note: there is limited onsite accommodation and this will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis; therefore, early registration is recommended.

If you wish to book campus accommodation either side of the conference dates, please contact the Hinxton Hall Conference Centre directly.

Accommodation services phishing scam – please be vigilant. More information.

Travel visas
Citizens of many countries can travel to the UK to attend a course or conference without needing a visa. Please check the UK government website for visitor information: https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor.

Confirmed attendees requiring a letter to support a visa application should contact the event organiser.

Bursary

Bursary deadline: 5 September 2023

A limited number of registration bursaries are available to attend this conference in person (up to 50% of the registration fee). Priority will be given to PhD students submitting abstracts who are facing financial barriers.

To apply, please use the dedicated bursary application link on the registration site. Please answer the bursary-related questions and submit an abstract before midnight UK time on the bursary deadline for your application to be considered.

Additional funding opportunities

Visit our support page for information on financial support, including carer grants to help delegates with the costs of caring for children or dependent family members while attending a course or a conference.

Abstract deadline: 10 October 2023

We welcome abstracts from all areas relevant to the main themes of the meeting, for both oral and poster presentations. Several oral presentations will be chosen from the abstracts submitted. Presenters of oral presentations as expected to be onsite for the duration of the conference, whereas those presenting posters can do so in person or virtually.

Abstracts will only be considered from registered delegates. Please use our online abstract submission system and follow the instructions given to ensure your abstract is submitted correctly. All abstracts must be submitted by the deadline. You can make changes to your submitted abstract before of the deadline by logging into your account and following the instructions

If you have already completed your registration and subsequently wish to submit an abstract, or wish to submit a second abstract, please follow these instructions.

The scientific programme committee will assess your abstract after the deadline has passed and you will be notified whether you have been selected to present an oral or poster presentation.

Poster boards onsite will accommodate 118 cm high by 84 cm wide (A0-portrait) of printed material. Accepted abstracts will appear in the conference programme book; poster board numbers will be allocated at the conference. All those accepted for a poster presentation will be given the opportunity to upload a short video describing their work.

With thanks to our ‘keynote speaker’ sponsor 

The Heidelberg Pain Consortium (SFB1158)

If you are interested in supporting this meeting, please contact the sponsorship manager.

See our sponsorship page for information about the benefits.

Central nervous system mechanisms of chronic pain

Keynote lecture by Howard Fields (University of California, San Francisco, USA) at The Challenge of Chronic Pain (1-3 March 2017).

Feedback from previous conferences

“Very well organised – great line up and lightning talks from all of those presenting posters meant you could get a feel for what everyone was up to!”

“There are essentially no similar conferences, this meeting has become an important fixture over the last 4 years.”

“The meeting covers clinical research, basic research and drug discovery, so you get the whole view of the field, it’s awesome!”

“This is probably the most cutting edge pain research meeting available”

“Excellent program of speakers, very good venue for interacting with colleagues”