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Research into pain in early life
Professor Lorenzo Fabrizi and Dr Stephanie Koch, researchers from UCL, are working to understand how early pain in babies shapes their brain. View their videos to learn more about neonatal pain research.
Many babies born prematurely or unwell spend their first weeks in neonatal care, where they undergo numerous clinical procedures. These procedures can have long-term impacts on their development, yet pain monitoring is often inconsistent.
Professor Lorenzo Fabrizi from University College London is exploring how the brain processes pain differently in babies and adults. His research aims to develop new ways of measuring pain in infants, improving clinical procedures and patient experiences.
Until only recently, pain (including chronic pain) was not recognised as a condition in its own right.
Now understood as more than just a symptom, Dr. Stephanie Koch from University College London is investigating how early life experiences of pain, both physical and mental, can increase vulnerability to chronic pain in adulthood.
"Understanding how the young brain learns to respond to pain is the first step in identifying how these circuits can lead to chronic pain later in life," explains Dr Koch.
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Since 2019, you’ve helped fund 18 researchers who are studying pain across the lifespan - from the earliest experiences of pain in babies and children, through to pain in young people and adults. But there are still gaps in our understanding, and a pressing need for more research.
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