Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's European Pain School has been rescheduled. The Organisers regret having been forced into this decision but believe that it is the only viable alternative at this stage, taking into consideration not only everyone’s health and well-being but also various national restrictions that seriously hamper the mobility of everyone involved, both scholars and faculty.
Suitable replacement dates are being sought at the moment (the most likely period will be June 2021) and will be published through these pages as soon as possible.
The European Pain School (EPS), founded at the University of Siena (Italy) in 2002, is the first and still the premier school intended for students working on basic science and clinical topics related to acute and chronic pain. EPS has an interdisciplinary perspective and a distinct research orientation. Young scientists at the Ph.D. or postdoctoral levels (or equivalent) in all fields of pain science and pain medicine are encouraged to apply.
In the past the basic mechanisms of pain and the neural pathways involved were explored through research on animals and human subjects using well defined noxious stimuli and observing neurophysiological, behavioral and subjective sensory responses. This straightforward approach, however, is not sufficient to understand most of the real-life spontaneous and prolonged pain states that occur in human patients and animals. Rather, chronic pain involves complex and nonlinear functioning of neural and extraneural systems resulting in the maintenance of the pain process.
Long known are inflammatory mechanisms that can induce a prolonged pain state mediated by pain-producing substances of multiple origin including the immune system, with cytokines stimulating peripheral nociceptors or neurons of the central somatosensory system. Prolonged and enhanced activation of the central pain system may also be due to failure of inhibitory controls in the CNS, a likely mechanism in neuropathic pain. Control by both GABA and endogenous opioids may be affected, causing persistent pain and allodynia. Altered control may also be mediated by cytokines released from activated astrocytes and microglia in the CNS.
The mammalian pain system shows a clear sexual dimorphism that may depend on hormonal influences during peri- and postnatal nervous system development, among other causes. This sexual dichotomy has consequences for pain expression and for psychosocial and medical consequences of pain in males and females, including e.g. the process of pain chronification. Recognition of this dichotomy is resulting in developments in pain medicine that take gender into account.
The European Pain School believes in the advancement of interdisciplinary programs for the ultimate benefit of pain patients, disseminating this vision especially among junior investigators interested in basic and clinical research on pain.
The title of EPS 2020 is "Pain, Inflammation and the Guts", whereby the plural indicates that all abdominal organs are included. "Pain, Inflammation" includes joint pain (ostheoarthrosis, rheumatoid arthritis), pain in the GI tract (functional dyspepsia, inflammatory bowel diseases, irritable bowel syndrome) and female pelvic pain (dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, parturition); of course, the etiologies, pathophysiological mechanisms, and pharmacological options will be covered.
Visceral pain is the general topic, including the interactions of the autonomic, enteric, sensory nervous system, and their interplay with the immune system. Not only in visceral pain, the TRP receptor-channels, such as TRPV1, TRPA1, TRPV4, TRPM8, play an eminent role, and the many spices and nutritional constituents (short chain fatty acids, omega3-PUFAs and derivatives) that act upon the TRPs are a topic. Consequently, nutrition (neutraceuticals, micronutrients) will be a matter of discussion. An overarching topic will be the gut microbiome that is reported to influence not only nociception but also pain processing in the CNS. Last not least, the transcriptomics of various inflammatory and pharmacological pain models will be presented and the overlaps discussed.
Anna Maria Aloisi, Siena, Italy
Giancarlo Carli, Siena, Italy
Fernando Cervero, Montreal, Canada
Andrea Ebersberger, Jena, Germany
Pierangelo Geppetti, Florence, Italy
Hermann Handwerker, Erlangen, Germany
Peter Holzer, Graz, Austria
Marzia Malcangio, London, United Kingdom
Siobhain O'Mahony Cork, Ireland
Felice Petraglia, Florence, Italy
Peter Reeh, Erlangen, Germany
Karel Talavera, Leuven, Belgium
Nathalie Vergnolle, Toulouse, France
John N. Wood, London, United Kingdom
EPS 2019 • Headaches and Facial Pain (9-16 June 2019)
EPS 2018 • Pain: from Fetus to Old Age (10-17 June 2018)
EPS 2017 • CNS vs PNS Contributions to Persistent Pain (4-11 June 2017)
EPS 2016 • Pain: Neurons, Gender and Society (5-12 June 2016)
EPS 2015 • Plasticity in neural processing as a mechanism in chronic pain (7-14 June 2015)
EPS 2014 • Spontaneous versus Evoked Pain in Animals and Humans (8-15 June 2014)
EPS 2013 • Brain Modulation of Pain Experience (9-16 June 2013)
EPS 2012 • Evolution of Concepts on Pain (3-10 June 2012)
EPS 2011 • Pain: Bridging Molecules and Mind (12-19 June 2011)
EPS 2010 • Translating Pain Science into Pain Medicine (30 May - 6 June 2010)
EPS 2009 • Molecular Mechanisms of Pain Response (13-20 June 2009)
EPS 2008 • Hyperexcitable Neurons as Pain Generators (15-22 June 2008)
EPS 2007 • Pain Syndromes: Science and Medical Practice (17-24 June 2007)
EPS 2006 • Pain and the Central Nervous System (12-17 June 2005)
EPS 2005 • Chronic Pain a Disease: The Role of Genes (6-11 June 2005)
EPS 2003 • Chronic Pain a Disease: Novel Scientific Concepts (25-31 October 2003)
Scientific Programme Committee
Anna Maria Aloisi
School Director
Siena, Italy
Giancarlo Carli
Siena, Italy
Pierangelo Geppetti,
Florence, Italy
Marzia Malcangio
London, United Kingdom
Peter Reeh
Scientific Programme Director
Erlangen, Germany
With the support of
