FRS 003 — Sec. 009 — (1 unit) — CRN 53617 — R 9:00-9:50am — 101 Olson
Pain Stays Mainly in the Brain (But Don’t Forget the Spinal Cord!)

Instructor: Steven Jinks, Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, School of Medicine

Description: The course will cover the pain, analgesia, interactions between pain and reward, and spinal cord vs. brain contributions to pain perception. These topics will be discussed in terms of the neural circuits and neurotransmitter/receptor systems involved, and effects of pain-suppressing (analgesic) drugs. The goals of the course are to give the student a basic understanding of different perceptual and emotional aspects of pain, their underlying mechanisms and methods of treatment, as well as to hear comments and have questions answered by a pain clinician. Knowledge in these areas can help students in coping with and treating present or future pain states that they or their loved ones might encounter.

Format: The seminar will meet for one hour each week. The time will be divided between informal lecture presentations, discussion, and student presentations. Reading material will be provided and segments of a book discussed (The War on Pain, by Scott Fishman). Grading: Students will be required to prepare a short paper (4 pages) on a topic to be chosen in consultation with the instructor. The course grade will be based on the quality of their written paper -- (1/3) and oral presentations (1/3) and on the frequency and quality of their participation in class discussion (1/3).

About the Instructor: Professor Steven Jinks is a member of the faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. His research interests include anesthetic mechanisms, pain, spinal cord injury, and motor control. His current projects focus on using electrophysiological and pharmacological methods to investigate how anesthetics act in the brainstem and spinal cord to ablate pain-related movements. Other projects focus on how spinal cord injury and fetal alcohol exposure influences the pain system and anesthetic requirements.