An investigation into how human nerve cells differ from animal cells has provided researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for Advanced Pain Studies (CAPS) with important clues in the pursuit of more effective treatments for chronic pain. The study also reinforces the value of studying human tissue — as opposed to animal cells — in the search for pain treatments. Very little work has been done previously with these cells from humans due to the scarcity of their availability for research. “Our main goal was to fully characterize the whole transcriptome of human DRG neurons because so much of the work that’s been done to find new pain therapeutic targets has been in mice. “We’re now able to approach developing pain therapeutics in a more specific way and to think about how chronic pain happens in people in a different way,” Price said.