Our lab’s main research questions focus on the brain mechanisms of pain in humans. We are particularly interested in the evaluation of neuroimaging measures as potential biomarkers of clinical pain, and in the identification of brain alterations in patients suffering from chronic pain conditions. Some of the lab’s most recent work focuses of the exploration of the role of neuroinflammation in human chronic pain. While this phenomenon has been the subject of intense investigation in animals, as of today it has been heavily understudied in humans. In the quest to achieve a deeper understanding of the brain mechanisms of human pain, we use a variety of psychophysical and brain imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography.