We are an interdisciplinary knowledge group with competence within clinical medicine, physiotherapy, psychology, physiology, genetics and molecular biology – and we aim our research towards these main areas:
Clinical trials
The main focus is to examine the effect of treatment interventions, both established and experimental, for patients with musculoskeletal pain. The group, headed by Kjersti Storheim, has extensive experience in running large longitudinal multicenter clinical trials.
The AIM study (Antibiotics In Modic changes), Back-to-Basic, The Norwegian disc prosthesis study and the NORDSTEN study are examples of studies that are rooted in the group.
Group leader: Kjersti Storheim
Population genetics
The group focuses on uncovering genetic causes for chronic pain and for neurological and psychiatric disease through large-scale genetic analysis of data from population studies including the HUNT Study , the Tromsø Study and UK Biobank .
Understanding the genetic causes can give new insights into biological mechanisms involved in these disorders, and in turn lead to improved treatment. The group is closely linked to the K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology.
HUNT
UK Biobank
K.G. Jebsen-senter for genetisk epidemiologi
Group leader: Bendik Winsvold
Neurogenetics
The aim of the group is to identify and characterize the underlying causes, biomarkers and predictors of neurological disease, with a focus on epilepsy, movement disorders, and musculoskeletal disease and pain. With the access to detailed clinical and molecular data from clinical trials and large population databases, we aim to translate our results into knowledge enabling personalized treatment for the patients.
One research approach is to identify key steps of pathophysiology through the identification and functional characterization of genetic causes of monogenic disorders, such as epileptic encephalopathies, hereditary ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegias. However, even in relatively homogenous patient groups, a main challenge in clinical practice remain the vast variation in clinical expression, clinical course and treatment response. We are addressing this through a system biology approach, i.e. through integrated analyses of a range of data sets reflecting different molecular layers, such as genomic, epigenomic, and metabolomic data, where we aim at identifying biomarkers and predictors of disease and treatment response.
Our projects warrant multidisciplinary competence, which is reflected in the background of our group members and collaborators who are geneticists, neurologists, engineers, mathematicians, bioinformaticians, molecular biologists, pharmacologists, nutritionists, pediatricians and pathologists.
Group leader: Kaja Selmer
Pain mechanisms
The group's aim is to understand the causes for neuropathic pain and development of chronic pain, and applies both genetic and neurophysiological methods. Pain trials are carried out on healthy volunteers, as well as on patients with injuries or diseases on peripheral nerves.
Through cooperation internally, nationally and internationally, we also participate in epidemiological studies, as well as take part in clinical trials on patients with neuropathic pain through our national cooperation within clinical neurophysiology.
Group leader: Kristian Bernhard Nilsen
Small fiber neuropathy and neuropathic pain
The main aim of this group is to study various conditions of neuropathic pain, such as small fiber neuropathy, CRPS and other types of nerve damage.
We apply standard investigations, such as quantitative sensory tests and QSART (Quantitative Sudomotor Axon Reflex Test), and possess special competence in neurography, which allows registration from single C- pain fibers in awake patients.
Group leader: Ellen Jørum
Epidemiology
The group studies the distribution and identifies risk factors of diagnoses within NEMU. The group has published several population-based studies on data from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). Another example is the project "Back pain and sciatica - prognostic factors for clinical outcome", based on data from patients admitted to Department of Neurology OUS with the diagnoses of acute back pain. The latter project started as a quality register in 2012.
Group leaders: Ingrid Heuch and Synne Øien Stensland