Affiliation: Benephyt Laboratory, Strasbourg, France

Dr. Petitjean obtained his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Strasbourg (France) in 2011, where he focused on spinal neuronal circuitry involved in pain processing messages. He received his postdoctoral training with Dr. Trese Leinders-Zufall at the University of Saarland (Germany) from 2011 to 2013 where he worked on the neuronal code of hypothalamic neurons. Then he joined the laboratory of Pr.Reza Sharif-Naeini at McGill University (Canada) where he focused on chronic pain mechanisms.

Since 2011 he is leading an ethnopharmacology scientific program that involved interdisciplinary approaches to develop new treatments based on phytocompound characterization from traditional herbals to alleviate chronic pain.

His major contributions include.

 1) Investigation of the microcircuitry underlying mechanical pain hypersensitivities

 2) Identification of several neuronal populations involved in persistent pain mechanism

 3) Identification of molecular mechanisms responsible for long-term changes to pain processing 

4) Isolated phytocompounds that alleviate chronic pain hypersensitivity

Since 2021, he is the head of the scientific department of the Benephyt laboratory, a research company focusing on the development of innovative treatments for chronic pain-related diseases.