NCCIH Research Blog

We’re excited to tell you about a workshop that we believe to be the first on its topic at the NIH. If you conduct research on basic and mechanistic research on natural products and/or pain signaling, we hope you’ll join us at “Natural Products and Pain: The Search for Novel Non-opioid Analgesics.” The workshop is on Wednesday, February 6, 2019, on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. A few seats remain at press time, registration is free, and the event will also be streamed live and archived.

“Natural Products and Pain” is co-sponsored by NCCIH, the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). We’re honored that David Julius, Ph.D., agreed to chair the planning committee and the event. Dr. Julius is an expert of international renown on the molecular biology of how signals are received and transmitted by the nervous system, including in touch and pain. His team has also researched natural products (e.g., capsaicin, the main pungent ingredient in “hot” chili peppers) in relation to these phenomena. He is professor and chair of the physiology department at the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine.

Many challenges exist in the quest to study natural products for their potential to help treat or manage pain. Presenters will discuss lessons learned through their current research and future directions. Nonopioid natural products that show promise for being effective and nonaddictive for pain are urgently needed, as part of the nationwide effort to address the pain and opioid crises.

You may also be interested in another NIH meeting directly after our workshop, “The Opioid Crisis and the Future of Addiction and Pain Therapeutics: Opportunities, Tools, and Technologies Symposium.” This meeting is sponsored by NCATS and related to the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative. It will take place February 7-8, also on the NIH campus.

We hope you’ll consider participating in one or both meetings.

• Register for NCCIH’s workshop: “Natural Products and Pain: The Search for Novel Non-opioid Analgesics”
• Register for NCATS' symposium: “The Opioid Crisis and the Future of Addiction and Pain Therapeutics: Opportunities, Tools, and Technologies Symposium”