University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus · NeuroscienceChronic Pain Neuroscience Lab
H Richard Koerber · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Research Focus
Dr. H. Richard Koerber's lab focuses on understanding the mechanisms of chronic pain and the effects of neuromodulation therapies, particularly spinal cord and dorsal root ganglion stimulation. The lab investigates how different populations of spinal neurons process painful and non-painful stimuli, aiming to provide insights that could lead to better treatment options for chronic pain sufferers. They utilize advanced imaging and electrophysiological techniques to study neuronal activity before and after injury and the effectiveness of neuromodulatory devices.
chronic painneuromodulationspinal cord stimulationdorsal root ganglion stimulationneurosciencecalcium imagingpain mechanismsneuron population analysis
Research Aims
4AIM 01Investigate the mechanisms of pain relief from spinal cord and dorsal root ganglion stimulation.
AIM 02Characterize spinal neuron activity in response to painful and non-painful stimuli.
AIM 03Develop methods to identify specific spinal neuron types using pharmacological approaches.
AIM 04Evaluate changes in neuronal circuits related to chronic pain conditions.
Skills the Lab Values
2-photon calcium imagingelectrophysiologymouse modelsneuron cell culturepharmacology studiescomputational modelingtissue preparationbehavioral assaysdata analysis using Python
Output against the department
Publications117bottom 41% of dept.395th of 671
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations7.2kbottom 49% of dept.343rd of 671
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.