131623Development of a translational model system of the spinal pain synapseClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKThe discovery of new drugs has become an extremely costly and time-consuming activity, and is associated with many late-stage failures. After 30 years of research there still remains a large unmet need for safe and effective treatments for chornic pain. One of the reasons for so many clinical failures, especially in the area of pain drug discovery, is the difficulty in predicting whether a potential drug will work in man. In order to address this problem we intend to develop a new technique that will allow the detailed evaluation of new drugs in a model pain system and so bridge the gap between traditional and well characterised but simple primary testing assays and more complex whole animal behavioural models. Success in this project will allow us to prioritise new pain drugs for testing in animal models, reducing the unnecessary use of animals as well as accelerating the drug discovery process and improving the chances of achieving success in man.