Krakow Pain School: Translational Pain Research

Krakow Pain School: Translational Pain Research "From Lab to Clinic" took place in Krakow on 25-29 June 2017. The school is organized every two years (the first was held in 2015) by the following research institutions: the European Federation of Pain (EFIC), Polish Society of Pain Research (PTBB) and the Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences (IF PAN) in Krakow. Prof. Małgorzata Filip (Photo 1), Deputy Director for Scientific Research of the Institute of Pharmacology, prof. Barbara Przewłocka (Photo 2), Chair of European Pain Federation Krakow Pain School, Bart Morlion, EFIC President-elect, dr Andreas Kopf, Chair of EFIC Education Committee and prof. Jan Dobrogowski (Photo 3), President of Polish Society of Pain Research attended the opening ceremony. The school was attended by 30 students from 10 countries and 25 lecturers, leading European researchers and clinicians (Photo 4 and 5). The primary purpose of these meetings is to enable discussion between clinicians and basic scientist about translating research results into new possibilities of pain therapy. The lectures involved basic mechanisms of pain processes, the results of clinical studies and the challenges of incorporating research into practice. The programme of the school also included workshops for students, conducted by the scientific staff of the Department of Pharmacology of Pain (IF PAN) and prepared by dr hab. Joanna Mika and dr hab. Katarzyna Starowicz-Bubak. Workshop participants were introduced to a numer of methods of pain measurement in animal models of chronic pain. The scientific programme was accompanied by the discussion on issues related to scientific publishing, conducted by the editor of European Journal of Pain (Photo 6), and other informal meetings as well as walking tours of historical Krakow (Photo 7 and 8).