Brain Oscillations and Neuromodulation in Experimental and Clinical Pain – Future Pain Management?

Session Title: Brain Oscillations and Neuromodulation in Experimental and Clinical Pain – Future Pain Management?

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Description: Innovative, non-invasive approaches to pain management must address pain-related alterations within the central nervous system. Chronic pain disrupts the neuronal oscillations that underpin inter-regional brain communication, either through direct effects on brain morphology or via changes in neuronal plasticity and connectivity, resulting in abnormal network function and altered oscillatory activity. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques can deliver oscillatory or perturbatory inputs to brain networks to modify these abnormal oscillations. Such interventions have been shown to correlate with pain reduction in some patients. The speakers in this workshop represent the forefront research on the topic from a preclinical, human experimental, and clinical perspective, offering a comprehensive view of this rapidly advancing field. Prof. Graven-Nielsen will chair the session.

Assoc. Prof. Larsen will present recent human studies showing how experimental tonic pain influences brain communication assessed by cutting-edge neurophysiological techniques (e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulation evoked electroencephalographic responses) as well as how non-invasive brain stimulation techniques (e.g., repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation or transcranial direct current stimulation [tDCS]) can modulate brain oscillations and potentially influence pro-nociceptive and anti-nociceptive pain mechanisms. Dr. May will continue and present the current state of research on the use of rhythmic non-invasive neuromodulation techniques to reduce experimentally induced pain in humans. The presentation will focus on studies employing transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and recent approaches based on sensory entrainment.

Following the human-experimental studies, Prof. Kuner will discuss the latest insights from mouse models on mechanisms of analgesia evoked by cortical neurostimulation. The talk will present data from in vivo imaging studies showing how specific populations of neurons undergo functional plasticity over the course of establishment and maintenance of chronic neuropathic pain and how these changes are influenced by non-invasive tDCS. Modulation of structural connectivity ranging from synaptic to circuit level will be presented. The talk will also describe newest advances in electrophysiological techniques that disambiguate cellular origins of pain-related oscillatory activity and unravel their coordination across distinct brain areas in conjunction with specific pain-related behaviours, which provide a basis for development of neurostimulation-based closed loop approaches for pain relief.

Finally, Prof. Attal will share new insights on non-invasive neuromodulation in chronic pain patients. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the motor cortex has been found effective for a variety of chronic pain conditions and is now included in guidelines for selected cases of refractory neuropathic pain (Soliman et al., Lancet Neurol 2025). This presentation will focus on methods aiming to optimise efficacy, such as deep rTMS using a novel coil for stimulation, theta burst stimulation, and clinical algorithms for better patient selection.

Overall, attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of how oscillatory brain dynamics can be harnessed for clinical benefit, learn about emerging neuromodulatory tools, and have the opportunity to discuss important future directions in the field.

Speakers

Elisabeth May Center for Interdisciplinary Pain Medicine, Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Germany

Elisabeth S. May studied psychology in Oldenburg, Melbourne, and Düsseldorf and received her doctorate from the University of Düsseldorf. Since 2013, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at PainLabMunich, investigating the role of neural oscillations in acute, tonic, and chronic pain. Her recent work focuses on the role of peak alpha frequency in pain and neuromodulation approaches for pain modulation. In 2021, she completed additional training as a behavioral psychotherapist. In 2025, she became the lead psychologist at the Center for Interdisciplinary Pain Medicine at TUM University Hospital in Munich and now combines research and clinical work.

Dennis Boye Larsen Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Aalborg University
Denmark

My primary research interests are in electrophysiology, psychophysics, and experimental and clinical pain. I have been part of Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP) for the past 10 years, and have been privileged to participate in many of the exciting electrophysiological and psychophysical studies that I look forward to sharing with you at the conference.

In the day-to-day, I enjoy working with the PhD students and postdoc fellows, and spend a lot of time teaching on our medicine, and medicine with industrial specialization educations. I am a coffee- and cat lover, so if you would like to grab a coffee and talk about science (and cats!), do not hesitate to reach out!

Rohini Kuner Heidelberg University
Germany

Rohini Kuner is a Professor of Pharmacology and Institute Director at Heidelberg University with a research focus on neural circuitry and the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying chronic pain. She obtained a Phd in Pharmacology in the USA before coming to Heidelberg, Germany for postdoctoral work and established a DFG-financed Emmy Noether Research group at the Pharmacology Institute in Medical Faculty Heidelberg of Heidelberg University. Rohini Kuner has received two ERC Advanced Grants, leads a large multidisciplinary Collaborative Research Center on chronic pain (2012-2027) and has received numerous distinguished awards, including the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (Germany’s highest research award), the Feldberg Foundation Award, the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine, the IASP Young Investigator Award, amongst others. She is serving as Vice-Dean for Research at Medical Faculty Heidelberg and is Vice-President Elect for Research and Transfer at Heidelberg University.

Thomas Graven-Nielsen Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Aalborg University
Danmark

Thomas Graven-Nielsen acquired his PhD within Biomedical Science and Engineering in 1997 (Aalborg University, Denmark). In 2006 he obtained a Doctoral degree in Medical Science (DMSc, Copenhagen University). He is Director at Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Aalborg University, Denmark (since 2015), and Full Professor in Pain Neuroscience since 2008. The Danish National Research Foundation inaugurated CNAP. He is also Councillor in the International Association for the Study of Pain.
His research focuses on translational studies of pain bridging the gap between basic animal findings and clinical manifestations of pain. The scope is to identify and modulate key features of human pain neuroplasticity leading to prevention of maladaptive neuroplasticity and promote advantageous neuroplasticity. The core areas are musculoskeletal pain, referred pain, localised and widespread deep-tissue hyperalgesia, pain modulatory mechanisms, pharmacological screening, and electrophysiological techniques to assess pain physiology and brain neuroplasticity. Novel pain models, bio-markers, assessment and neuro-modulatory technologies are key biomedical tools for the translational studies.
A core research philosophy in his work is that pain research by nature is multidisciplinary, hence interdisciplinary and intersectorial collaboration is a key concept, as is collaboration with excellent researchers and students. Thomas has published 400+ peer-reviewed scientific papers (H-index: 79, approx. 21.500 citations) and received several awards, most notably the Knight of the Order of Dannebrog (2020). He reviews papers on a regular basis for high ranked journals, has presented as keynote speaker at several international conferences, and organised scientific workshops and symposia at international meetings. Multiple national and international collaborations on translational pain research have been established. Moreover, advocacy for pain research has been a cornerstone activity via dedicated involvement in e.g. the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Nadine ATTAL APHP and Inserm
France

Nadine Attal holds a dual qualification in Neurology and Neuroscience. She is Professor of Therapeutics and Pain Medicine at UVSQ Paris-Saclay University and Senior Consultant at Ambroise Paré Hospital, AP-HP. Since January 2026, she serves as Director of UMR INSERM U987/UVSQ Paris-Saclay (Laboratory of Pathophysiology and Clinical Pharmacology of Pain, LPPD), having previously served as Deputy Director from 2016 to 2025. Nadine Attal has authored 201 peer-reviewed international publications in journals . Her work has accumulated 41,468 citations, with an H-index of 82 (Google Scholar). She serves as Section Editor of the British Journal of Anaesthesia and of the journal Pain. She has served on the Board of Directors of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and as Liaison Councillor of the NeuPSIG Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group until 2024. She has been invited to several plenary lectures and has coordinated more than 200 workshops at international or national congresses (IASP World Congress, European Pain Federation, European Academy of Neurology…). She has received several awards and distinctions including Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (« knight »), Mémain-Pelletier Prize, Fondation Institut de France, Guerra Prize, Institut de France (Fondation Unité Guerra), Rynd Award, Irish Royal Society of Anaesthesiology and 1st Axel Kahn Prize for Pain and Cancer.

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