Aubin Moutal

University of Arizona College of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology

Dr. Moutal completed his BSc and MSc in Structural and Functional Biochemistry at Claude Bernard University, Lyon 1 in France. He obtained his PhD in Neuro-Oncology under the guidance of Dr. Nicole Thomasset and Pr. Jérôme Honnorat in Lyon in December 2013, where he studied the mechanism of cancer stem cell self-renewal in glioblastoma. He moved to the University of Arizona for a postdoctoral fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Rajesh Khanna. His work focused on the regulation of voltage-gated ion channels (CaV2.2 and NaV1.7) trafficking in chronic pain, for which he obtained the young investigator award from the Children’s Tumor Foundation. This work uncovered novel therapeutic targets for indirect inhibition of these channels in neuropathic pain. In August 2018, Dr. Moutal obtained a Research Assistant Professor position in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Arizona. His independent is work focused on studying rare autoimmune clinical conditions, to discover novel proteins involved in the transition to chronic pain. His lab uses a variety of in vitro and in vivo approaches, from biochemistry and CRISPR to electrophysiology and pain behavior. The lab is currently funded through the Department of Pharmacology and is expecting major funding from the NIH.

Sascha Alles

University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine

Dr. Alles completed his BSc Hons degree in Biochemistry at Imperial College London and his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Alberta with Professor Peter Smith, wherein he studied mechanisms of gabapentinoid drugs for neuropathic pain. He then went on to complete his Postdoctoral Fellowships at the University of British Columbia with Professor Terry Snutch and University College London with Professor John Wood. His work has focused on understanding pain mechanisms and ion channel biology, which has facilitated unique insights into novel therapeutics for treating pain, such as those impacting the ion channel NaV1.7. Dr. Alles set up his independent lab at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, NM, the USA in August 2019. The focus of his work is on the study of neuronal circuitry and molecular mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of chronic pain. His lab uses patch-clamp electrophysiology, imaging, behavior, transcriptomics, and molecular biology techniques in animal models of chronic pain and patient-derived tissues. Currently, his lab is funded by the Department of Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine at UNM HSC, as well as a CDMRP US Department of Defense grant.