The postnatal development and plasticity of central pain circuits

A premature baby in intensive care can undergo over a dozen painful procedures each day, yet doctors have little understanding of how the developing brain processes and controls that pain. Pain pathways in young infants appear unusually sensitive because the brain’s natural pain-dampening system—which normally blocks pain signals entering the spinal cord—has not yet matured. This project will map how those control circuits develop in babies, and how time in hospital intensive care alters the brain connections that signal and regulate pain. If the research succeeds, it could change how clinicians manage pain in neonatal units. Instead of relying on adult-derived painkillers or assuming infants feel less pain, doctors might one day time treatments to match the developing brain’s capacity to cope. The work could also reveal why some children who experienced early-life pain later develop chronic pain conditions. This is fundamental science—it will not produce an immediate bedside tool. But understanding how pain circuits wire up in the first weeks of life is a prerequisite for designing safer, more effective pain relief for the most vulnerable patients.