Luda Diatchenko

Luda Diatchenko
Born
Moscow, Russia
OccupationsProfessor, McGill University
Known forIdentifying "pain genes" and biological pathways contributing to human pain
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Academic background
EducationMD and MS, Russian State Medical University, PhD (Molecular Biology), Russian State Medical University; National Cardiology Research Center
Academic work
DisciplineMolecular Genetics
Sub-disciplineHuman Pain Genetics
InstitutionsAlan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, McGill University Faculty of Medicine, McGill University Faculty of Dentistry
Notable ideasGenetic variants of COMT associated with pain sensitivity and the risk of chronic pain conditions; protective role of neutrophil-driven inflammation for pain resolution; individual differences in responses to analgesic drugs driven by genetics
WebsiteHuman Pain Genetics Lab

Luda Diatchenko is an academic and researcher at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, with a research focus on pain in humans.[1] She is the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Human Pain Genetics Laureate [2] and the Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.[3]

Education

Diatchenko grew up and completed her studies in Moscow, Russia. She completed her MD and Master of Science (Biochemistry) in 1990 from the Russian State Medical University (now known as the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University). She continued her studies here and at the National Cardiology Research Center, and was awarded a PhD in Molecular Biology in 1993.

Research and career

Diatchenko began her career in industry with 7 years in research and development at CLONTECH Laboratories (now Takara Bio USA) in Palo Alto, California. In 2000, her career in academia began as a Visiting Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Neurosensory Disorders at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has continued since then to have roles in both academia and industry. Between 2000 – 2013, she led her research group at the University of North Carolina, becoming a Full Professor in 2013. Since 2013, she has led a research group at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, in the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain in the Faculty of Dentistry and Medicine. Her recruitment to McGill University included a Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC),[4] which facilitated her work in creating a Human Pain Genetics Program at McGill. She continues to be involved in industry research through advisory board membership or as a consultant.

Diatchenko pioneered the field of human pain genetics, where she has substantively contributed to the current body of knowledge through her work. Her work has covered genetics and pharmaceutics. Diatchenko has been instrumental in identifying new pain drug targets through a reverse genetic approach that starts with human genetics and genomics, which has led to discovering pain genes and biological pathways that contribute to human pain. Her research program revealed a genetic variation in the human catechol-O-methyltransferase gene with pain sensitivity and the risk of chronic pain conditions (Hum. Mol. Genet., 2004; Science, 2006), individual differences in responses to analgesic drugs being driven by genetics (Hum. Mol. Genet., 2009; Pain, 2020), and the protective role of neutrophil-driven inflammation for pain resolution in patients with acute lower back pain, where inhibiting inflammation leads to short-term analgesia but long-term pain states (Sci.Transt.Med., 2022).[5][6][7]

Diatchenko also believes in and contributes to open science to advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of pain. Her lab's Human Pain Genetics Database (HPGdb) summarizes all extant data on the genetic contributors of pain and the Transcriptomics Pain Signatures Database (PSGS) summarizes all available data on genome-wide transcriptomics in human pain conditions and experimental pain models. Diatchenko has also been prolific in developing molecular genetic methodologies. She pioneered Suppression Subtractive Hybridization (SSH) nearly 30 years ago, which is still widely used and highly cited times (: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 1996). She and colleagues have also developed a SMART technology (Biochem Biophys Res Commun., 1997), and Factorial reporter system that measures the activities of multiple transcription factors in a living cell. (Nat Methods, 2008)

Diatchenko has been an active member of several professional societies, such as the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), playing various roles in multiple committees. At IASP, in 2012, she founded and was Elected Chair of the Special Interest Group (SIG) in Genetics and Pain. She also consults for policy-making agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the US National Academy of Sciences and the US Surgeon General of the United States.

Awards and honors

Selected Bibliography

References

  1. ^ "Canadian study offers important clue to why some back pain becomes chronic". CBC News. May 20, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Mcdevitt, Neale (September 25, 2013). "Dr. Luda Diatchenko awarded more than $10 million in federal funding as CERC in Human Pain Genetics". McGill Reporter. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Luda Diatchenko named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada". Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Canada Research Chair in Human Pain Genetics".
  5. ^ "Common Medications Can Prolong Back Pain, Study Says". The New York Times. 2022.
  6. ^ "Short-term use of ibuprofen may increase chance of chronic pain, study suggests". The Guardian. 2022.
  7. ^ "Anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen could worsen back pain, study suggests". The Telegraph. 2022.
  8. ^ "Seventy-one new Fellows elected into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences" (PDF).
  9. ^ "Ronald Melzack Lecture Award".
  10. ^ "Dr. Diatchenko Receives Honorary Award". Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
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