Boston Children’s Hospital — Chronic Pain Research (Yi Zhang)

[Transformative Basic Science] Grant Investigators: Chris Somerville and Heather Youngs This page was reviewed but not written by the grant investigators. Boston Children's Hospital staff also reviewed this page prior to publication. The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of $2,695,376 over four years to Boston Children’s Hospital to conduct basic research into the epigenetics of chronic pain. The work will be led by Yi Zhang, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and the Fred Rosen Chair Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. This funding will support research to identify 1) specific neurons in a region of the brain involved in processing environmental stimulation into associative learning; 2) changes in gene expression and epigenetic modification in neurons associated with chronic pain; and 3) feedback and modulatory processes that may be involved in resolving pain signals and neuronal sensitivity. This research will contribute to our understanding of the top-down feedback and acclimation process that may contribute to some types of chronic pain. This grant falls within our interest in funding scientific research, and specifically within our interest in advancing transformative basic science. The grant amount was updated in May 2024.