Welcome

Background

The European Pain School (EPS), founded at the University of Siena (Italy) in 2002, is the first and still the premier school intended for students working on basic science and clinical topics related to acute and chronic pain. EPS has an interdisciplinary perspective and a distinct research orientation. Young scientists at the Ph.D. or postdoctoral levels (or equivalent) in all fields of pain science and pain medicine are encouraged to apply.

Mission and Overview

In the past the basic mechanisms of pain and the neural pathways involved were explored through research on animals and human subjects using well defined noxious stimuli and observing neurophysiological, behavioral and subjective sensory responses. This straightforward approach, however, is not sufficient to understand most of the real-life spontaneous and prolonged pain states that occur in human patients and animals. Rather, chronic pain involves complex and nonlinear functioning of neural and extraneural systems resulting in the maintenance of the pain process.

Long known are inflammatory mechanisms that can induce a prolonged pain state mediated by pain-producing substances of multiple origin including the immune system, with cytokines stimulating peripheral nociceptors or neurons of the central somatosensory system. Prolonged and enhanced activation of the central pain system may also be due to failure of inhibitory controls in the CNS, a likely mechanism in neuropathic pain. Control by both GABA and endogenous opioids may be affected, causing persistent pain and allodynia. Altered control may also be mediated by cytokines released from activated astrocytes and microglia in the CNS.

The mammalian pain system shows a clear sexual dimorphism that may depend on hormonal influences during peri- and postnatal nervous system development, among other causes. This sexual dichotomy has consequences for pain expression and for psychosocial and medical consequences of pain in males and females, including e.g. the process of pain chronification. Recognition of this dichotomy is resulting in developments in pain medicine that take gender into account.

The European Pain School believes in the advancement of interdisciplinary programs for the ultimate benefit of pain patients, disseminating this vision especially among junior investigators interested in basic and clinical research on pain.

2026 Edition • Pain in Translation: From Cellular and Animal Models to Humans

The great divide that separates preclinically promising compounds from successful analgesic drugs in the clinic blurs the vision of several gaps on either side. Disparities such as differences between animal species and disease models, discrepancies between sensory neurons in culture and their own nociceptive nerve endings, and variations in culture conditions or differentiation procedures for induced pluripotent stem cells can thwart the translation to the human. On the other side, differences between healthy volunteers and patients, experimental and pathologic pain, artificial and “real” inflammation, sex and pharmacogenetic differences, and the great variety of painful conditions and comorbidities complicate the evaluation of analgesic efficacy. Last but not least, the differential weighting of adverse drug effects can result in the premature dismissal of a potentially useful compound.

The 23rd edition of the European Pain School, which will take place from 13–19 June 2026, will address many of the hurdles on translational pathways from bench to bedside. Seven leading experts, basic and clinical scientists, will give two lectures each. Five of these experts conduct research on both sides of the great divide. Half of overall 17 lectures will deal with the current state of pain research from the lecturer’s point of view, the other half is meant to focus on the specific translational theme. School applicants (PhDs and PostDocs) are not bound to the theme, they present their plans or results in pain research in abstract form and short talks, discussed by the whole audience.

Topics

• From bench to bedside: tops and flops
• Human thermal pain: TRP and NaV ion channels, Schwann cell-nerve interactions
• Spinal nociceptive transmission: inhibition and sensitization, neurosteroids
• Veterinary diseases and humans: translation in both directions
• Pig skin similar to human skin: single-fiber recordings vs. microneurography and pain
• Complex regional pain syndrome: animal models vs. human disease
• Painful diabetic polyneuropathy: animal models, genetic associations, patients
• Human pain reflected in cortical functions: special EEG and fMRI, applicable to animals
• Rheumatoid arthritis pain: preclinical research penetrating clinical studies
• Sex and gender differences: hormonal cycle, CB2 agonism, nutritional effects
• Childhood pain: fetal responses and analgesia, infant pain scale and management

Faculty 2026

Anna Maria Aloisi, Siena, Italy
Carlo V. Bellieni, Siena, Italy
Giancarlo Carli, Siena, Italy
Michael J.M. Fischer, Vienna, Austria
Pierangelo Geppetti, Florence, Italy
Giandomenico Iannetti, Rome, Italy
Marzia Malcangio, London, United Kingdom
Federico Montechiaro, Ugo Basile Srl, Gemonio, Italy
Peter Reeh, Erlangen, Germany
Andrew S.C. Rice, London, United Kingdom
Heike Rittner, Würzburg, Germany
Martin Schmelz, Mannheim, Germany
Camilla Svensson, Stockholm, Sweden
Éric Troncy, Montréal, Canada
Hanns Ulrich Zeilhofer, Zurich, Switzerland