Topic Overview:

Seal is interested in elucidating the neural circuitry that drives behavior in normal and disease states. She is currently focused on the somatosensory system, which detects touch, temperature, and pain, and on forebrain cholinergic circuits, which are important for mood, cognition, and the execution of motor behavior.

A major focus of Seal’s laboratory is the study of neural circuits underlying touch and pain. In a recent study, Seal found that vesicular glutamate transporter 3 (VGLUT3) is required for the chronic mechanical pain that results from nerve injury and inflammation. This sensation manifests as a hypersensitivity to touch or movement and is distinct from thermal pain. Although it is the most clinically relevant form of pain, the mechanisms that generate and maintain it are still not well understood, nor are there efficacious, non-addictive treatment options. Seal’s laboratory is actively trying to understand precisely how VGLUT3 contributes to this form of pain and to identify circuits, synapses, and molecules essential for the transmission of chronic pain, with the aim of generating novel, non-addictive therapies.