GYRL: GYNECOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY

Our goal is to identify the mechanisms that cause pelvic pain, including dysmenorrhea, and prevent the development of chronic pain.

Period pain is the leading cause of school/work absence and foremost risk factor for chronic visceral pain in reproductive age women. Our research is essential because there are few other laboratories dedicated to eradicating dysmenorrhea, one of the most frequent causes of suffering and gender disparity worldwide.

 THE GYRL

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Gynecology Research Laboratory

Our goal is to identify the mechanisms that cause pelvic pain, including dysmenorrhea, and prevent the development of chronic pain. 

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Further research is needed to diagnose, treat and prevent chronic pelvic pain syndromes.

The causes of visceral pain are poorly understood because diagnostic tests do not exist to separate out pain due to primary nociceptor activation, referred abdominal muscular activity, organ perfusion, or oxygenation issues. Development of effective treatments for disruptive chronic pelvic pain conditions like dysmenorrhea and painful bladder syndrome are hindered by this lack of mechanistic understanding. Our lab's goal is to address this gap and work to develop superior treatment mechanisms.

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Video Below: Functional imaging of a menstrual cramp. Pseudocolor video of our method to discover the causes of menstrual pain. Original data published in AJOG: http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(18)30084-X/fulltext 

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