Centre for Chemistry and Drug Discovery - Projects List

Principal Advisor: A/Prof Nathan Palpant (IMB)

Associate Advisor: Dr Andrew Mallett (IMB); Dr Sonia Shah (IMB), Dr Mikael Boden (UQ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences)

Industry partnership opportunities: HAYA Therapeutics; Maze Therapeutics

Despite strong vetting for disease activity, only 10% of candidate new drugs in early-stage clinical trials are eventually approved. Previous studies have concluded that pipeline drug targets with human genetic evidence of disease association are twice as likely to lead to approved drugs. This project will take advantage of increasing clinical disease data, rapid growth in GWAS datasets, drug approval databases, and innovative new computational methods developed by our team. The overall goal is to develop unsupervised computational approaches to understand what genetic models and data are most predictive of future drug successes. Underpinning this work, the project will build and implement computational and machine learning methods to dissect the relationships between genome regulation, disease susceptibility, genetic variation, and drug development. The project will not only reveal fundamental insights into genetic control of cell differentiation and function but also facilitate development of powerful unsupervised prediction methods that bridge genetic data with disease susceptibility and drug discovery. Students with background/expertise in computational bioinformatics and machine learning are ideal for this work. Informed by clinical, computational, and cell biological supervisory team, the project will have an opportunity to engage with diverse international companies through internships and collaborations to facilitate co-design of these methods for uptake in industry discovery and prediction pipelines.

Principal Advisor: Dr Hana Starbova (IMB)

Associate Advisor: Prof Irina Vetter (IMB; UQ School of Pharmacy); Dr Raelene Endersby (Telethon Kids Institute)

Treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy for childhood and adult brain cancers save many lives. However, they also cause long-term debilitating adverse effects, also termed "late effects", such as pain, cognitive disabilities and sensory-motor neuropathies. Currently, no effective treatments are available, and brain cancer survivors are forced to live with long-term disabilities.

Animal models are important for the understanding of disease pathology and for preclinical testing of novel treatment strategies. However, currently there are no appropriate animal models available for the testing of late effects of cancer therapy.

To address this gap, this PhD project aims to develop in-vivo animal models of cancer therapy-induced late effects and to test the efficacy of novel treatment strategies. This project forms a foundation for future clinical studies.

Animal handling and behavioural assessments in rodents are vital for this project.

Principal Advisor: Prof Nathan Palpant (IMB)

Associate Advisor: Prof Jennifer Stow (IMB); Prof Brett Collins (IMB); A/Prof Markus Muttenthaler (IMB)

Industry partnership opportunities: Infensa Bioscience

This project focuses on strategies to prevent organ damage associated with ischemic injuries of the heart. There are no drugs that prevent organ damage caused by these injuries, which ultimately leads to chronic heart failure, making ischemic heart disease the leading cause of death worldwide. Globally, 1 in 5 people develop heart failure, with annual healthcare costs of $108 B. Our team has discovered a new class of molecules, acid sensitive ion channels, that mediate cell death responses in the heart during ischemic injuries like heart attacks. This project will study the function of acid sensing channels using cell and genetic approaches. We will use innovative new drug discovery platforms to find new peptides and small molecules that inhibit acid channel activity. Finally, the project will use disease modelling in stem cells and animals to evaluate the implications of manipulating these channels using genetic or pharmacological approaches to study the implications in models of myocardial infarction. The candidate will benefit from background/expertise in cell biology and biochemistry. Collectively, this project will deliver new insights, tools, and molecules that underpin a key area of unmet clinical need in cardiovascular disease. The project will be supervised by experts in drug discovery, cell biology, and cardiovascular biology and includes opportunities for internships with industry partners such as Infensa Bioscience, a new spinout company from IMB developing cardiovascular therapeutics for heart disease.

Principal Advisor: A/Prof Markus Muttenthaler (m.muttenthaler@imb.uq.edu.au)

Associate Advisor: A/Prof. Johan Rosengren (SBMS, j.rosengren@uq.edu.au)

The blood-brain barrier controls the transfer of substances between the blood and the brain, protecting us from toxic compounds while allowing the transfer of nutrients and other beneficial molecules. This project aims to discover new venom peptides capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and to develop non-toxic peptide-based brain delivery systems. It addresses long-standing challenges and knowledge gaps in the delivery of macromolecules across biological barriers. The project will involve cell culture, blood-brain barrier assays, proteomics, peptide chemistry, NMR structure determination, and molecular biology and pharmacology. The candidate should have a degree in biochemistry, pharmacology or cell biology, good hands-on laboratory skills and strong ambition and work ethics. Expected outcomes include an improved understanding of the strategies nature exploits to reach targets in the brain, mechanistic pathways to cross biological membranes, and innovative discovery and chemistry strategies to advance fundamental research across the chemical and biological sciences.

Principal Advisor: A/Prof Markus Muttenthaler (IMB)

This project requires candidates to commence no later than Research Quarter 1, 2024, which means you must apply no later than 30 September, 2023.

This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

The blood-brain barrier controls the transfer of substances between the blood and the brain, protecting us from toxic compounds while allowing the transfer of nutrients and other beneficial molecules. This project aims to discover new venom peptides capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and to develop non-toxic peptide-based brain delivery systems. It addresses long-standing challenges and knowledge gaps in the delivery of macromolecules across biological barriers. The project will involve cell culture, blood-brain barrier models and assays, proteomics, peptide chemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology. Expected outcomes include an improved understanding of the strategies nature exploits to reach targets in the brain, mechanistic pathways to cross biological membranes, and innovative discovery and chemistry strategies to advance fundamental research across the chemical and biological sciences. Anticipated benefits include technological innovations relevant to Australia’s biotechnology sector and enhanced capacity for cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Principal Advisor: Prof Ben Hankerman (IMB)

This project requires candidates to commence no later than Research Quarter 1, 2024, which means you must apply no later than 30 September, 2023.

This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

Every two hours Earth receives enough energy from the sun to power our global economy for a year. The capture and use of this energy are essential to power a sustainable zero CO2 emissions future, increase international fuel security and build advanced light-driven industries as part of an expanding circular bioeconomy.

Over 3 billion years, photosynthetic microorganisms have evolved to tap into the huge energy resource of the sun and use it to synthesise a diverse array of biomolecules that collectively form biomass.  This photosynthetic capacity can be adapted to create clean fuels for the future such as hydrogen and an array of high-value biomolecules.

This PhD project is focused on the development of high-efficiency light-driven single cell green algae (microalgae) cell lines that can produce hydrogen fuel from water as well as high-value molecules using advanced genetic “plug-and play” molecular biology techniques.

Building on extensive foundational work, the project will involve the design of expression vectors, cell transformation and screening, creation of specific point mutants and gene knockouts using CRISPR and their characterisation (e.g. photosynthetic physiology, H2 production). The project may extend to technoeconomic analyses of scaled up designs and lab scale validation of the proposed industrial processes.

Principal Advisor: A/Prof Markus Muttenthaler

Associate Advisor: A/Prof. Jyotsna Batra (QUT; jyotsna.batra@qut.edu.au)

Prostate cancer is the second most frequent malignancy in men worldwide, causing over 375,000 deaths a year. When primary treatments fail, disease progression inevitably occurs, resulting in more aggressive subtypes with high mortality. This project focuses on the oxytocin/oxytocin receptor (OT/OTR) signalling system as a potential new drug target and biomarker to improve prostate cancer management and patient survival. Anticipated outcomes include a better understanding of OT/OTR’s role in prostate cancer and new therapeutic leads for an alternative treatment strategy.

The candidate should have a degree in biochemistry, pharmacology or cell biology, good hands-on laboratory skills, some bioinformatics skills (e.g., ability to implement statistical tests in R/Python and program scripts to automate analyses) and strong ambition and work ethics. The candidate will be involved in genetic/bioinformatic analysis, cancer cell signalling assays, chemical synthesis of OT ligands, GPCR pharmacology and characterisation of therapeutic leads in prostate cancer models.

Principal Advisor: Prof David Fairlie (IMB)

This project requires candidates to commence no later than Research Quarter 1, 2025, which means you must apply no later than 30 September, 2024.

This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

Most diseases are mediated by protein-protein interactions, often fleeting contacts between large protein surfaces too shallow to sequester conventional small molecule drugs. This project will design and develop classes of new compounds at and above size limits of conventional drugs to modulate more difficult protein-activated receptors that are largely targets without drugs. To do this, the candidate will first truncate one of the binding partners to a smaller peptide and optimise its structure, composition, protein affinity, and functional potency in order to modulate the protein-protein interaction that leads to disease. This will require knowledge and skills in peptide chemistry, solid phase synthesis, HPLC purification, spectroscopy (NMR, MS, CD), and an ability and motivation to modify peptides into small bioavailable molecules using organic synthesis techniques. Some knowledge of cell biology and enzyme assays would be an advantage, as would knowledge of NMR spectroscopy. The long term goal is to design new compounds and profile them for effects on genes/proteins/cells/rodent models of immunometabolism, inflammatory diseases and cancer. Outcomes will include new knowledge of protein-protein interactions in disease; greater understanding of drug targets, disease mechanisms and effectiveness of new drug action; patentable methods and bioactive compounds; and new experimental drug leads to new medicines for preclinical development towards the clinic.

Principal Advisor: Dr Conan Wang (IMB)

Must commence by Research Quarter 3, 2025.

This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

An excellent opportunity for a PhD candidate to explore cutting-edge technologies for design of bioactive proteins to fight chronic human diseases or environmental pests. A motivated individual will be immersed in a leading research institute and international team at UQ, supported by an Australian Centre of Excellence and nationally funded research programs.

Development of drugs for human benefit, whether to cure human diseases or safeguard our food resources and environmental assets, must begin with the design of bioactive lead molecules. This research program will investigate platform technologies for engineering of novel proteins, which are actively pursued by many emerging biotechnology industries. The candidate will choose one of the following major application areas of national importance.

1. Next-generation anti-cancer drugs
2. Antimicrobial agents to fight infection
3. Bio-friendly drugs to control agricultural pests
4. Natural proteins to prevent crown of thorns starfish outbreaks

A typical project will involve use of protein structure to design new drugs. The candidate could choose to use either computational design tools or molecular libraries to screen massive numbers of drug leads. This often followed by characterisation of structure and activity using biophysical, biochemical and/or biological assays.

Principal Advisor: Dr Andrew Walker (IMB)

Associate Advisor: A/Prof Nathan Palpant (IMB)

Jellyfish cause some of the most serious envenomation syndromes of all animals, responsible for >77 deaths in Australia to date and many more around the world. Two jellyfish of interest are the box jellyfish Chironex fleckeri, whose venom targets the heart to kill in as little as two minutes; and its much smaller relative the Irukandji jellyfish Carukia barnesi, envenomation by which causes a long-lasting and painful ordeal. Jellyfish also represent an ancient group of venomous animals with unique biology different from all other venomous animals. Despite this, little is known about jellyfish toxins, how they work, or how we might design therapeutics or novel treatments to ameliorate their effects. This project would involve combining state-of-the-art techniques to isolate and characterise jellyfish toxins, test them using a range of bioassays, and assess possible agents to protect from their harmful effects.

Principal Advisor: Dr Zeinab Khalil (IMB)

Associate Advisor: Prof Ian Henderson (IMB); Prof Rob Capon (IMB)

Microbes have been a new promising source of modern medicines, including antibiotics (e.g. penicillin) and immunosuppressants (e.g. sirolimus) and well as agents to treat cancer (e.g. adriamycin) and cardiovascular (e.g. statins) disease, as well as many more. Recent advances in genomics offer the prospect of exciting new approaches to discovering the next generation of medicines hidden within the Australian microbiome. 

To this end in 2020 we launched Soils for Science (S4S) as an Australia wide citizen science initiative, designed to engage the public, to collect 10's of thousands of soil samples from backyards across the nation, from which we will isolate 100's thousands of unique Australian microbes.

This project will annotate the S4S microbe library to prioritize those that are genetically and chemically unique. These will be subjected to cultivation profiling, and fermentation, followed by chemical analysis to isolate, identify and evaluate new classes of chemical diversity. 

The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary team where, supported by microbiological and genomic sciences, they will gain skills and experience in analytical, spectroscopic and medicinal chemistry – to inform and inspire the discovery of future medicines. 

Applicants must have a strong background with outstanding grades in organic chemistry, and with an interest in learning multidisciplinary biosciences. 

Principal Advisor: A/Prof Markus Muttenthaler (IMB)

This project requires candidates to commence no later than Research Quarter 1, 2024, which means you must apply no later than 30 September, 2023.

This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

This project aims at developing next-generation molecular probes with enhanced specificity and spatiotemporal control for the study of proteins and neuropeptide signalling. It addresses recognised knowledge gaps and technical bottlenecks in neuropeptide and memory research. Expected outcomes include a deeper molecular understanding of long-term memory formation and the role of neuropeptides in this process, as well as innovative chemistry strategies and novel molecular probes to advance fundamental research across the chemical and biological sciences. Anticipated benefits include technological innovations of relevance to Australia’s biotechnology sector and enhanced capacity for cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Principal Advisor: Prof David Fairlie (IMB)

This project requires candidates to commence no later than Research Quarter 1, 2024, which means you must apply no later than 30 September, 2023.

This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

Selective binding of small molecules with proteins underpins most drug discovery. However, while a compound can be devised to interact with a single protein, this cannot drive the molecule into a specific location where functional modulation of the target protein only at that location is desired for therapy. Instead, designed compounds usually bind to the protein wherever it is expressed in the body and this can be deterimental to normal healthy physiology. This project will investigate a number of promising new approaches to directing protein-binding compounds to specific compartments of cells and organisms. It will require a combination of organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, molecular modelling and chemical biology. The new approaches will be tested and optimised with the goal of inhibiting or activating desired proteins in specific compartments in order to modulate disease-causing protein functions without altering normal healthy physiology. Achieving these aims will require enthusiasm, a high degree of self-motivation, lateral thinking, strong chemical knowledge and hands-on skills in organic synthesis (solution and solid phase), NMR characterisation (including 2D NMR structure analysis), HPLC purification, mass spectrometry, and computer modelling. Some knowledge of enzyme assays and cell biology would be an advantage. The long term goal is to design new compounds and profile them for selective effects on target genes/proteins/cells/rodent models of inflammatory diseases and cancer. Outcomes will include new knowledge of protein function in disease; greater understanding of medicinal and organic chemistry in drug design, drug targeting, mechanisms and effectiveness of drug action; patentable methods and bioactive compounds; and new experimental leads to new medicines for development towards the clinic.

Principal Advisor: A/Prof Markus Muttenthaler (m.muttenthaler@imb.uq.edu.au)

Associate Advisor: Dr. Sebastian Furness (SBMS, s.furness@uq.edu.au)

The advent of highly processed, calorie-rich foods in combination with increasingly sedentary lifestyles has seen a rapid rise in overweight and obesity. 60–80% of populations in developed countries are overweight or obese, and over three million deaths each year are attributed to a high body mass index. Obesity is also a risk factor for diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and cancer. This has a clear impact on life expectancy, with predictions that this generation will be the first to have a shorter life expectancy than the last. Despite this enormous socio-economic impact, treatment options are limited.

Our research groups are interested in the role of the gut peptides GLP-1 and CCK in regulating appetite and satiety. A subset of GLP-1 mimetics are already successful treatments for obesity; however, compliance is low as they are injectables. The project will focus on the development of orally active mimetics. The project will also develop molecular probes to facilitate the study of the GLP1 and CCK1 receptors in the context of appetite regulation across the gut-brain axis.

The candidate should have a degree in chemistry, biochemistry or pharmacology, good hands-on laboratory skills, and a desire to drive the project. The candidate will be involved in solid phase peptide synthesis, medicinal chemistry, mass spectrometry, structure-activity relationship studies, cell culture, gut stability assays, cell signalling and receptor pharmacology.
 

Principal Advisor: Dr Zeinab Khalil (z.khalil@uq.edu.au)

Associate Advisor: Dr Angela Salim (a.salim@imb.uq.edu.au), Professor Rob Capon (r.capon@imb.uq.edu.au) and Professor Waldemar Vollmer (w.vollmer@imb.uq.edu.au)

The worldwide emergence and relentless escalation of antibiotic drug resistance (i.e. methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) have demanded ongoing commitment over decades to discovering new antimicrobial weapons.1 Yet, even with the widespread acceptance of the need for new antibiotics in both the scientific community and the public at large, an urgent need for new approaches remains. Fortunately, microorganisms continue to produce their own wealth of structurally diverse and highly specialised metabolites, each with a remarkable range of biological activities that in themselves could present the next antibiotic breakthrough.

Microbial genomes are rich in silent biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), encoding for defensive agents (i.e. antibiotics) that fail to express in standard laboratory monoculture conditions, presumably due to the paucity of environmental cues. Nitric oxide (NO) is well known for its regulatory role in mammalian and plant biology, little is known about its role in regulating microbial silent BGCs. We revealed Nitric Oxide Mediated Transcriptional Activation (NOMETA) as a potentially cost-effective & rapid approach for an in situ (i.e. non-genome mining) approach to accessing the valuable chemistry encoded within microbial silent BGCs.

This project will deliver two key solutions to the major problem of AMR: (i) develop an innovative method that applies NO to activate the transcription of microbial silent BGCs to access new defensive agents capable of informing the development of new antibiotic classes, and (ii) apply new genomic and metabolomics data mining technologies for microbes identified in our Soils for Science citizen science program to identify additional antibiotics for future drug development.

Join our collaborative team as we explore the frontiers of analytical, spectroscopic, and medicinal chemistry, guided by the expertise of microbiological and genomic sciences. Together, we are on the verge of unveiling the mysteries of nature, paving the way for groundbreaking discoveries in the antibiotic drug discovery.

Principal Advisor: Dr Angelo Keramidas (IMB)

This project requires candidates to commence no later than Research Quarter 1, 2024, which means you must apply no later than 30 September, 2023.

This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

This project will investigate how voltage-gated sodium channels, which are proteins (ion channels) found on the surface of neurons (brain cells and nerves) function as molecular conduits of cell-to-cell electrical communication. The overall aim is to study how molecular probes (venom peptides) and structural parts of these ion channels affect the local biophysical environment of the ion channels, and how this leads to fine tuning of the ion channel's sensitivity to the stimulus that activates them (cell membrane voltage).

This project will use natural and modified peptides that are derived from venoms of different species, such as spiders and ants to probe and manipulate the functional properties of an ion channel that is critically important to the function of the nervous system.

The conceptual knowledge gained from this project would advance our understanding of a fundamental physiological process and facilitate the development of drugs that regulate ion channel function, such as antiepileptics, analgesics and insecticides.

Principal Advisor: Dr Rosemary Cater (r.cater@uq.edu.au)

Associate Advisor: Dr Anne Lagendijk (a.lagendijk@imb.uq.edu.au) 

The human brain comprises ~650 kilometres of blood vessels lined by brain endothelial cells, which supply the brain with oxygen and essential nutrients. The growth of cerebral blood vessels begins early in development via a process called sprouting angiogenesis. Despite its importance, the molecular mechanisms underlying brain angiogenesis and formation of the blood-brain barrier are poorly understood. It has recently been demonstrated that the gene Flvcr2 is critical for blood vessels to grow in the brain, and last year we discovered that the protein encoded by this gene (FLVCR2) transports choline – an essential nutrient – across the blood brain barrier and into the brain. This project will utilise biochemical techniques and structural biology (cryo-EM) to investigate what other molecules may regulate this transport process, and how choline regulates angiogenesis in the brain.

Principal Advisor: Dr Emily Goodall (IMB)

Associate Advisor: Prof Ben Hankerman (IMB); Prof Ian Henderson (IMB)

Friend or Foe, bacteria are powerhouses at the centre of many important biotechnological processes, but also the disease-causing agents of many infectious diseases. Understanding the fundamental processes of a bacterial cell is key to understanding (1) how to harness these organisms for biotechnological gain and (2) how to target them in the treatment of an infection. Using the model organism, Escherichia coli, we aim to develop a method for identifying protein-protein interactions in a high throughput format. The methodology developed in this project will enable total proteome screening and has implications for studying both fundamental cell physiology as well as the potential for studying protein-drug interactions in vivo. After development, the technology will be validated by screening for chemical inhibitors of protein-protein interactions.

Principal Advisor: Prof Glenn King (IMB)

Associate Advisor: A/Prof Lata Vadlamudi (UQ Centre for Clinical Research)

There are more than 65 million people currently living with epilepsy, and more than 1/3 are resistant to anti-seizure medications (ASMs). For these latter patients, new efficacious ASMs are urgently required. This project will focus on development of biologic drugs for treatment of genetic epilepsies caused by aberrant expression of a voltage-gated ion channel. We are specifically interested in: (i) Dravet syndrome, which is caused by aberrant function of the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.1, and (ii) KCNH1 epilepsy, caused by gain-of-function mutations in the voltage-gated potassium channel Kv10.1, which was first described here at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. This project brings together the expertise of the King lab in venoms-based peptide-drug discovery and development, and the clinical expertise of Prof. Vadlamudi in treatment of genetic epilepsies. Lead compounds will be isolated from arthropod venoms, the best known source of ion channel modulators. Prof. King’s lab has access to the largest collection of arthropod venoms in the world (>500 species). Lead compounds will be tested in brain organoids produced from patient-derived stem cells as well as in vivo rodent models of Dravet syndrome and KCNH1 epilepsy.

Principal Advisor: Dr Fernanda C Cardoso (IMB)

Associate Advisor: Dr Jean Giacomotto (QBI/Griffith); Prof Glenn King (IMB)

Neurodegenerative diseases are caused by progressive loss of neurons, leading to dementia, motor dysfunction, paralysis, and death. Investigation of ion channels in central neurons unravelled clusters of voltage-gated ion channel subtypes playing a key pathological role in the pre-symptomatic stages of neurodegenerative diseases. Venoms are an exceptional source of peptides modulating ion channels with higher potency and selectivity than poorly efficacious drugs used in the treatment of neurodegeneration.
This project involves systematically interrogating venoms using computational approaches, high throughput in vitro and in vivo screens, venomics and pharmacology to discover venom peptides that selectively modulate ion channels in central neurons and therefore have the potential to prevent central neurodegeneration.
This is a multidisciplinary project in drug discovery utilizing venoms and other natural repertoires as main sources of bio-active molecules. PhD scholars will develop skills in computational biology, manual and automated whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology, ex vivo tissue electrophysiology, in vivo screen in zebrafish, high performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, recombinant expression, peptide synthesis, amongst other state-of-the-art methods and techniques. Students will author papers and be involved in writing and preparation of figures for research publications from their work.

Principal Advisor: Prof Irina Vetter IMB)

Associate Advisor: Dr Richard Clark (UQ School of Biomedical Sciences)

Voltage-gated sodium channels are well-validated analgesic targets, with loss-of-function mutations leading to an inability to sense pain, but otherwise normal physiology and sensations. However, efforts to mirror these genetic phenotypes with small molecule inhibitors have highlighted that both selectivity over ion channel subtypes and mechanism of action are key considerations for the development of safe and effective analgesics. 

This project will leverage the exquisite potency and selectivity of peptide sodium channel modulators from venoms for the rational development of novel, safe and effective molecules with analgesic activity. 

Students will gain experience with peptide synthesis, patch-clamp electrophysiology, sensory neuron culture, microscopy and in vivo behavioural assays to tackle the global problem of unrelieved chronic pain with innovative molecules targeting peripheral sensory neuron function.