Publications
APS Bulletin • Volume 13, Number 4, 2003
Board Member Profile
An Interview With George Wilcox, PhD
What led you to specialize in pain?
My initial studies in neuroscience and bioengineering as a graduate student focused on learning and memory. The complexities and imponderables of this topic area at that time (mid 1970s) made the spinal mechanisms of pain transmission and modulation a much more tractable and attractive research area. My advisor’s support from the American Chiropractic Association opened financial doors for research in this area. So my final thesis project sought to extend a large body of research into the first afferent synapse in the spinal cord by neurophysiologists like Sir John Eccles, Patrick Wall, and Bill Willis.
Who has most influenced your work?
Although I only spent a week learning iontophoresis in his lab, I’d have to say that repeated long-term interactions with Bill Willis have greatly influenced the directions of my research, particularly those I followed in the 1990s. The evolution of the behavioral pharmacology component of my research closely paralleled that of my colleague, Tony Yaksh, focusing on spinal delivery of algesic and analgesic agents. In addition, I have been privileged to have good access over the years to several of the pillars of basic pain research, including Jean Marie Besson, Ron Dubner, Howard Fields, and Robert Schmidt.
In what ways has the field changed since you began your career?
Collaborative research has increased in importance as the knowledge base about the molecules and signaling mechanisms underlying chronic pain and analgesic therapies has grown. Whereas my research in the 1980s was conducted with a single student or collaborator, current research flows more in a collective of several collaborating laboratories, epitomized by the Center for Pain Research that is forming here at the University of Minnesota. Multiple approaches brought to bear on scientific or clinical problems seem more capable of yielding advances in our knowledge.
What are your areas of interest in the field?
Chronic pain manifests in many ways in patients, and diverse therapies address these different manifestations of chronic pain. Developing new preclinical models mimicking aspects of human pain and human pain therapy forms one part of my research endeavor.
Chronic pain is thought to rely for its formation on several forms of neuronal plasticity, among them long-term potentiation (LTP). Identifying the building blocks of LTP and means to defeat it in the spinal cord forms a second part of my research endeavor.
Chronic pain therapy often relies on polypharmacy, the use of two or more drugs to enhance efficacy without increasing side effects. Identifying and understanding analgesic combinations with synergistic interactions forms a third part of my research endeavor.
What has been the most rewarding experience of your career?
During the past 10 years, I have worked with an extremely talented group of young scientists who collaborated synergistically on independent but interleaved projects to extend lines of thought formed in the 1980s. Two of the lines of thought yielded two therapeutic candidates, one each, a drug that could conceivably be developed pharmaceutically and used to benefit patients in chronic pain. What made this even more rewarding has been the career development of the young scientists who spearheaded this work.
Currently, what is the major challenge you face on a daily basis?
It’s hard to keep up with scholarship (reading and disseminating science), fundraising, and compliance while conducting or directing scientific inquiry. Digital levers help, but the shortage is in brain time. This is where collaborative research comes to the rescue. So, hopefully, a happy outcome awaits!
What advice would you give to those who are just starting out in the field?
New researchers should prepare to work hard and efficiently. They should establish strong collaborative research relationships with both peers and more senior or junior researchers. They should approach new knowledge, approaches, and colleagues with an open mind and share research results as openly as possible to preserve their identity and proprietary knowledge.
Any “words of wisdom” for our members?
Live long and prosper.
George L. Wilcox, PhD, is professor, departments of neuroscience and pharmacology, University of Minnesota Medical School, and director of the Center for Pain Research in Minneapolis.