Wheeler Center Members

Allan Basbaum

Members & Research Interests

"The nervous system has a remarkable ability to remember and modify itself in response to behaviors. Sometimes, this flexibility works to the organism's disadvantage, as when changes in the nervous system result in chronic pain or drug addiction."

Allan Basbaum
Professor and Chair, Anatomy
McGill University, BS (Psychology), 1968
University of Pennsylvania, PhD (Anatomy and Psychology), 1972
E: aib@phy.ucsf.edu

My laboratory studies the mechanisms through which tissues and nerve injury produce persistent pain and how long-term changes in the processing of pain messages by spinal cord neurons contribute to these pain states. We also study the mechanisms through which opiates regulate pain processing and the changes that occur in the central nervous system with chronic opiate use. Our goal is to identify the pathways involved in these changes, develop ways to counteract them and ultimately provide better control of both pain and addictive behavior.