Current Postdoctoral Fellows
First Year Fellows
Orion Furmanski
Orion Furmanski, PhD, received his BS degree from Purdue University in Biological Science with a dual concentration in Developmental Neurobiology. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. In his doctoral dissertation, titled “Manipulating Embryonic Neural Precursor Cells for Therapeutic Transplantation into a Rat Model of Neuropathic Pain,” he characterized abnormal pain behaviors in a rat excitotoxic spinal cord injury (SCI) model and sought conditions that would promote GABAergic neuronal differentiation of rat neural precursor cells (NPCs) in vitro. Results of his research showed that rats with a limited SCI exhibited exaggerated responses to noxious stimuli, but probably not as a result of intraspinal pain processing changes. He also found that manipulating cultured NPCs could prevent gliogenesis in vitro and in vivo after intraspinal transplantation, but different conditions would be needed to promote neurogenesis.
Dr. Furmanski’s chief research interest is elucidating mechanisms that underlie chronic pain to foster the development of next-generation pain therapies. With each of his two T32 program mentors, Dr. Furmanski will engage in different projects toward this overall goal. In the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, he will investigate the role of postsynaptic scaffold protein-mediated events in anesthesia and chronic pain with Dr. Roger Johns. At the Kennedy Krieger Institute, he will work with the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury Director, Dr. John McDonald, and he will gain clinical SCI experience while continuing to develop cell-based therapy for SCI-related neuropathic pain in a collaborative project with Dr. Johns
PUBLICATIONS
Furmanski O, Gajavelli S, Lee J-W, Collado M, Jergova S, Sagen J. Combined extrinsic and intrinsic manipulations exert complementary neuronal enrichment in embryonic rat neural precursor cultures: an in vitro and in vivo analysis. J. Comp. Neurol. 2009; 515(1):56-71.
Lee JW, Furmanski O, Castellanos DA, Daniels LA, Hama AT, Sagen J. Prolonged nociceptive responses to hind paw formalin injection in rats with a spinal cord injury. Neurosci. Lett. 2008; 439(2):212-5.
Gajavelli S, Castellanos DA, Furmanski O, Schiller PC, Sagen J. Sustained analgesic peptide secretion and cell labeling using a novel genetic modification. Cell Transplant. 2008; 17(4):445-55.
Alvin D. McKelvy
Alvin D. McKelvy, PhD, received his bachelor of science in Chemistry from Francis Marion University and his
PhD in Biomedical Science with a concentration in Neuroscience from the University of South Carolina, School of Medicine.
His doctoral dissertation was entitled “Modeling Alterations in Nociception Following Repeated Vaso-Occlusive Episodes”
and examined changes in subsequent pain response following neonatal injury as well as developing an animal model to
investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying sickle cell related pain in infants and children.
Results from his work suggest that neonatal injury produce alterations in subsequent pain response that are dependent
on age and sex.
Dr. McKelvy’s primary research interests involve the development of
adequate pain treatment for neuropathic pain. Specifically, he is investigating the role of delta opioid receptors
on nerve injure induced chronic pain. He has secondary interest in pain induced by vaso-occlusive episodes in individuals
with sickle cell. He is being mentored by Dr. Raja, Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Director of
Pain Research in the Division of Pain Medicine.
Publications
McKelvy, A. D., and Sweitzer SM. Decreased Opioid Analgesia in Weanling Rats Exposed to
Endothelin-1 during Infancy. Neuroscience Letters, 2009. 466(3): p. 144-8.
McKelvy, A. D., and Sweitzer, S.M., Endothelin-1 exposure on postnatal day 7 alters
expression of the endothelin B receptor and behavioral sensitivity to endothelin-1 on postnatal
day 11. Neuroscience Letters, 2009. 451(1): p. 89-93.
McKelvy, A.D., Mark, T.R. and Sweitzer, S.M., Age- and sex-specific nociceptive response to
endothelin-1, J Pain, 8 (2007) 657-66.
Second Year Fellows
Michelle Hoot
Michelle Hoot, Ph.D. received her Bachelor of Science from Wayne State University in Biopsychology and her
Ph.D in Pharmacology and Toxicology with a concentration in Neuroscience from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Her doctoral dissertation was entitled “The Effect Of Chronic Constriction Injury on Cellular Systems Within Nociceptive
Pathways Of The Mouse” and examined the effect of chronic pain on the mu-opioid and cannabinoid receptors as well as the
extracellular regulated kinases in the medial pain pathway. Results of her research suggest that chronic constriction
injury causes a desensitization of both the mu-opioid and cannabinoid receptors.
Dr. Hoot’s primary research interests involve the physiological and social factors involved in the establishment
and maintenance of chronic pain states. She is being co-mentored by Dr. Raja, Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical
Care Medicine, Director of Pain Research in the Division of Pain Medicine.and Dr. Haythornthwaite, Clinical Psychologist
in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and Director of the Center for Mind-Body Research.