Home Department: Human Biology
Mentor: David Yeomans, Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine

NF-kB is a transcription factor involved in facilitating pain; however, not much is understood regarding its role in developing analgesic tolerance induced by opioids, such as fentanyl.  Anika’s project utilizes a fentanyl-based rat model that mimics enhanced responsiveness to painful stimulation in order to study changes in NF-kB activity in the brain.  This will help better understand how opioid addiction can induce increased pain sensitivity.