2022

May ​

• Dr. Martin chairs a symposium at Canadian Pain Society ASM 2022 titled "Epiregulin and EGFR Interactions as Critical Contributors to Pain Processes and a New Therapeutic Pain Target".

• Jennet Baumbach wins Best Poster Award at Canadian Pain Society ASM 2022. Congratulations!

​

April ​

• Undergraduates Ashley Mutasa, Crystal Mui, and Antonietta Mandatori successfully defend their Undergraduate theses. Congratulations!

• Antonietta Mandatori wins Best Undergraduate Thesis 2022. Congratulations!

​

2021

December

• Navdeep Lidhar successfully defends her Ph.D. dissertation. Congratulations!

• Soroush Darvish-Ghane successfully defends his Ph.D. dissertation. Congratulations!

​​

November

• Paper titled "Altered nociceptive behavior and emotional contagion of pain in mouse models of autism" is published in Genes, Brain & Behavior.

​

October

• Paper titled "Characterizing sex differences in depressive-like behavior and glial brain cell changes following peripheral nerve injury in mice" is published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

​

September

• Harashdeep Deol successfully defends her M.A. thesis and transfers to the Psychology Ph.D. program. Congratulations!

• Sandra Poulson is awarded the 2021-2022 Pain Scientist Scholarship by the U of T Center for the Study of Pain. Congratulations!

​

May

• Antonietta Mandatori is awarded the 2021 undergraduate NSERC award. Congratulations and looking forward to a summer of awesome research!

​​

February ​

• Paper titled "Bridging the translational divide in pain research: Bridging the translational divide in pain research: Biological, psychological and social considerations" is accepted for publication in Frontiers in Pharmacology.

​

January ​

• Paper titled "Can Male Mice Develop Preference Towards Gentle Stroking by an Experimenter?" is accepted for publication in Neuroscience.

​

2020

October

• Jennet Baumbach joins the lab as a Ph.D. student in the Psychology program. Welcome!

​

September 

• Harashdeep Deol and Emma Mannan join the lab as Masters students. Welcome!

• Paper titled "D1 receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex modulate basal mechanical sensitivity threshold and glutamatergic synaptic transmission" is published in Molecular Brain. 

• Paper titled "Naked mole-rats lack cold sensitivity after nerve-injury" is published in Molecular Pain. 

• Paper titled "Sex-specific effects of the histone variant H2A.Z on fear memory, stress-enhanced fear learning and hypersensitivity to pain" is published in Scientific Reports. 

​

August ​

• Book chapter titled "Chapter 17: Social Communication and Modulation of Pain" is published in Dynamics of Pain edited by Robert Sorge.

• Sandra Poulson is awarded a MITACS Research Training Award. Congratulations!

 

July 

• The lab is awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to study "The cognitive burden of empathy". This is the first social sciences grant from the lab and the project will be conducted in collaboration with Drs. Keisuke Fukuda (Department of Psychology, University of Toronto) and Jennifer Steller (Department of Psychology, University of Toronto).

​

May

• The lab is awarded an X-Seed University of Toronto Seed Grant to "Design a sensing system for managing phantom limb pain". This project will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Fae Azhari (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto).

• Paper titled "The dual role of epiregulin in pain" is published in Pain. 

​

March 

• The lab is awarded a grant from MITACs to study Next generation Cannabinoid analogues for chronic pain in partnership with Dalraida Drug Discovery.

​

February ​

• Dr. Martin gives a talk entitled "Environmental influences on pain modulation in mice and people" at Guelph University"

​

2019

September 

• Vassilia Michailidis successfully defends her M.Sc. thesis titled "Characterizing BDNF Expression and Glial Cells in the Comorbidity between Chronic Pain and Depression

​

July 

• The lab is awarded a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to study "Learning mechanisms of pain and pain relief".

• Paper titled "The role of hedonics in the human affectome" is published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.

• Dr. Martin is awarded the Dean's Excellence Award. 

​

June 

• Paper titled "Toward a phenomic analysis of chronic postsurgical pain following cardiac surgery" is published in the Canadian Journal of Pain.

​

May 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk titled "Learning mechanisms of pain and pain relief" at the Canadian Association for Neuroscience in Toronto, ON.

​

April 

• Dr. Martin is the recipient of the Early Career Award from the Canadian Pain Society. He gave a plenary talk entitled "Bridging the Translational Divide in Pain Research" at the annual meeting in Toronto, ON. 

• Paper titled " Genetic pathway analysis reveals a major role for extracellular matrix organization in inflammatory and neuropathic pain" is published in Pain.

• Paper titled "Conditioned pain modulation in rodents can feature hyperalgesia or hypoalgesia depending on test stimulus intensity" is published in Pain.

​

March 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk entitled "The social and environmental modulation of pain" during Laurentian University Research Week.

​

February 

• Dr. Martin is interviewed for the CBC podcast, Quirks and Quarks.  You can listen to the interview here. 

​

January 

• Paper titled "Evaluating analgesic efficacy and administration route following craniotomy in mice using the grimace scale" is published in Scientific Reports.

• Paper titled "Male-Specific Conditioned Pain Hypersensitivity in Mice and Humans" is published in Current Biology. Read the CBC news coverage here.

• Dr. Martin  is awarded funding from the Research and Scholars Activity fund to study "Social reunion in mice"

​

2018

December 

• Dr. Martin gives a webinar for the Pain Research Forum entitled " Examining the Neural Mechanisms and Molecular Targets for the Social Modulation of Pain". You can listen to the webinar here. 

​

September 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk entitled "Examining the neural circuits and molecular targets for the social modulation of pain" during the Neurobiology of Empathy Symposium, Warsaw, PO

• Sandra Poulson successfully defends her M.A. thesis and transfers to the Psychology Ph.D. program. Congratulations!

• Claire Chan successfully defends her M.Sc. thesis. Congratulations!

​

May 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk entitled "Learning mechanisms of pain and pain relief" during the Canadian Pain Society/Pfizer Award holders meeting. Montreal, QC.

• Dr. Martin gives a talk entitled "Male-specific conditioned pain sensitivity in mice and humans" during the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences Conference in Atlanta GA. 

​

  April 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk entitled "Identification of novel pain targets through reverse translation" during the UTM

• Dr. Martin gives a talk entitled "The social and environmental modulation of pain" during the Brain and Behaviour Research Day at the University of Toronto. 

 

March 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk entitled "Examining the neural circuits and molecular targets for the social modulation of pain" during the American Pain Society meeting in Anaheim CA.

​

2017

December 

• Dr. Martin is interviewed for the View to the U Podcast. The link to the podcast titled "Pain, Pills and Placebos" can be found here!.

​

November 

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk entitled "The puzzle of pain" at TedX UofT Mississauga

​

October 

• Dr. Martin is interviewed by Genna Buck for Metro Science News on psychosomatic pain and contagion responses.

​

September 

• Dr. Martin's paper titled "Epiregulin and EGFR interactions are involved in pain processing" is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Read the UofT press release here. 

• Sandra Poulson joins the lab as a Master's Student in the Psychology program.

​

June 

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk entitled "Sex Matters: Balancing the scales in pain research" for Sexposium at the Royal Ontario Museum. 

​

May 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk titled "Stress, pain and social interactions in mice." during the CPS meeting in Halifax, NS.

• New publication in PNAS on social propinquity.

• Dr. Martin gives a talk titled "Conditioned pain responses in male, but not female mice and people" during the CPS meeting in Halifax, NS.

• Dr. Martin gives a talk titled "Implicit memory for pain in mice and humans" during the APS meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.

• Dr. Martin gives a talk during the basic science SIG at the APS meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.

• Chulmin Cho wins the best oral presentation at the Graduate Research Colloquium. Congratulations! 

• Areej Fatima and Rachel Lui join the lab as Undergraduate Research Assistants. Welcome!

• Vassilia Michailidis joins the lab as a Graduate Student in Cell and Systems Biology. Welcome!

​

April 

• Dr. Martin is awarded an NSERC Research Tools and Instruments grant. 

• Claire Chan is awarded a CGSM NSERC to continue working on the behavioural and neurobiological role of affective touch. Congratulations!

​

March 

• Dr. Martin is awarded a grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (John R. Evans Leaders Fund). 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk titled "The Social Modulation of Pain in mice and people." during the ICPS meeting in Vienna, AT.

• Meruba Sivaselvachandran is awarded an NSERC-URSA to work on "Pain and Social Dominance". Congratulations!

​

February 

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk at the University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain Day. The title of his talk was "Stress, Pain and Social Interactions".

• Dr. Martin is awarded an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Innovation. 

​

January 

• Navi Lidhar is awarded an NSERC PGS-D to continue her work on the social modulation of pain. Congratulations!

• Vassilia Michailidis joins the lab as an independent research project student. Welcome!

​

2016

November 

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk at Sick Kids for PICH2GO. The title of his talk was "The modulation of pain by social and environmental stress"

​

October 

• Fatima Setak is awarded a UTM Undergraduate Research Award. Congratulations!

• Erinn Acland successfully defend her MA thesis. Congratulations!

​

September 

• Navdeep Lidhar joins the lab as a PhD candidate. Welcome!

• Sivaani Sivaselvachandran successfully defends her MA thesis.  Congratulations!

• Pawandeep Sandhu and Maria Malik Join the lab as Undergraduate Thesis Students. Welcome!

​

August 

• Erinn Acland is awarded a Pain Scientist studentship from the University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain. Congratulations!

​

June 

• Our review paper on rodent empathy was accepted for publication in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.

​​

May 

• Mary Loka is awarded the Dean's Excellence Award in the category of Research/Experiential Learning. Congratulations!

• Sarasa Tohyama is awarded the Best Poster Prize at the Canadian Pain Conference in Vancouver.  The title of her poster was "Placebo Analgesia in a Mouse Model of Chronic Pain".

• Moonjeong Cho joins the lab as a research volunteer.  Welcome!

• Dr. Martin is awarded the Connaught New Researcher Award from the University of Toronto for his work on chronic pain-induced depression.

• Dr. Martin is awarded the American Pain Society Future Leaders Grant to examine hypothalamic activation in chronic pain models.

•  Mary Loka is awarded an NSERC URSA to work in the lab on a project examining analgesics in a mouse model of postoperative pain. Congratulations!

• Matthew Danesh, Fatima Setak and Meruba Sivaselvachandran join the lab as Undergraduate Research Assistants. Welcome!

​

April 

• Sivaani Sivaselvachandran is awarded a GEF travel grant to attend the Canadian Society Conference in Vancouver. 

• Sivaani Sivaselvachandran is awarded a CGSM NSERC to continue her work on rodent models of empathy. Congratulations!

• Our review paper on the use of DREADDs for behavioral neuroscience is accepted for publication in Frontiers in Genetics. 

• Dr. Martin is awarded an NSERC Discovery Grant for his work on the neural mechanisms of stress and empathy. 

• Chulmin Cho joins the lab as a postdoctoral researcher.  Welcome!

​

March 

• Erinn and Sivaani are awarded UTM Travel Grants to attend the Canadian Pain Society Conference in Vancouver.

• Mary Loka is awarded the UTM Undergraduate Research Award. Congratulations!

​

February 

• Dr. Martin is awarded a Canada Research Chair in Translational Pain Research. Read the short press release from UTM here. 

​

January 

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk at Trent University. The title of his talk was "The modulation of pain by social and environmental stress"

​

2015

December 

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk at York University.  The title of his talk was "The modulation of pain by social and environmental stress"

​

November 

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk for the University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain Translational Seminar Series. The title of his talk was "Novel translational models for the study of stress-induced hyperalgesia/analgesia".

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk for the Brain and Behaviour Seminar Series at the University of Toronto. The title of his talk was was "The Genetic and Psychosocial Modulation of Pain in Mice and People".

​

October 

• Read our story in UTM news about a new direction in the lab.  Click here. 

• Dr. Martin, Sivaani Sivaselvachandran and Sally Abdullah demonstrate how to test pain sensitivities in people during the UTM Fall Campus Day. 

• Sally Abdullah is awarded a UTM Undergraduate Research Grant.  Congratulations!

​

September 

• Dr. Martin's paper on the analgesic properties of bupranolol and propranolol enantiomers is accepted for publication in the Journal of Pain.

• Loay Moharram joins the lab as an undergraduate research assistant. 

• Erinn Acland joins the lab as a graduate student. Martha Pokarowski joins the lab as an undergraduate research assistant.

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk for the European Pain Federation Conference in Vienna, Austria. The title of his talk was "Novel Translational models for the study of stress-induced hyperalgesia/analgesia

​

July 

• Dr. Martin gives a talk for the UTM lab liaison event featuring the Psychology Department.  Read about it here.

• Sarasa Tohyama joins the lab as a research technician and Daina Wilkialis joins the lab as an undergraduate research assistant

​

June 

• Sivaani Sivaselvachandran joins the lab as a graduate student. Claire Chan, Sally Abdallah, Mary Loka, and Abi Chandiramohan join the lab as undergraduate research assistants. 

​

May 

• Dr. Martin is invited and gives a talk during the Canadian Pain Society meeting in P.E.I.  His talk was titled the "Modulation of Pain by Social and Environmental Stress.

• Dr. Martin gives a talk during the American Pain Society Data Blitz session titled "Male-specific conditioned hypersensitivity in mice and people"

​​

April 

• Dr. Martin is awarded the Canadian Pain Society/Pfizer Early Career Investigator Pain Research Grant for his work on neural mechanisms underlying conditioned hyperalgesia.

​

February 

• Dr. Martin is awarded a seed grant from the University of Toronto Mississauga Research and Scholarly Activity Fund for his work on social stress and chronic pain

​

January 

• In praise of bonding!  Read our news story from UTM here

• Dr. Martin's paper on the blockade of empathy by stress is published in Current Biology.

• Dr. Martin officially starts his position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga.