Irene Tracey
Research Areas
Medical Sciences Division Themes
- Neuroscience
- Behavioural Science
- Imaging
- Integrative Physiology
- Drug Discovery
Neuroscience Sub-Themes
Neuroscience Keywords
- Brain
- Brain Imaging
- Clinical Trials
- Electrophysiology
- ERP
- fMRI
- Human
- Imaging
- MRI
- Neuroimaging
- Neurophysiology
- Neuroscience
- Pain
- Perception
- Pharmacology
- Psychophysics
Techniques and Equipment
| Web | Personal Website |
|---|---|
| irene@fmrib.ox.ac.uk | |
| Email (PA) | sue@fmrib.ox.ac.uk |
| Department |
Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics
Department of Clinical Neurology |
| College | Pembroke College |
Irene Tracey
Until recently it has been difficult to obtain reliable objective information from normal subjects and patients regarding their subjective pain experience. Relating specific neurophysiologic markers to perceptual changes induced by sensitisation, behavioural or pharmacological mechanisms and identifying their site of action within the CNS has been a major goal for scientists, clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry. With the advent of functional neuroimaging methods, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and electroencephalography (EEG) this has been made feasible. Over the past 8 years my group has contributed significantly to a better understanding of nociceptive processing in the human central nervous system in the non-injured and injured state, as well as modulation of pain perception via pharmacological and psychological interventions. I run a multidisciplinary research team of approx. 25 scientists and clinicians focused on using FMRI and EEG to study pain processing within the human brain and spinal cord of chronic pain patients (neuropathic, inflammatory and functional), models of key symptoms from these disorders, and normal subjects. I have a particular interest in mechanisms related to plasticity and inflammation within chronic pain states. We are also expert in understanding the neural basis for pain relief, induced either behaviourally or pharmacologically and have been one of the few groups pioneering the use of FMRI for drug discovery. Separate to my personal research, I am also Director of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB). This is a 900m2 facility comprising approximately 80 scientists/clinical fellows and based at the John Radcliffe Hospital within the Department of Clinical Neurology. Areas of research within this facility are directed by three further Principal Investigators (Professors Peter Jezzard, Steve Smith and Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg) and include: MR Physics, Image Analysis, Pain, Plasticity in Disease, Cognition, and in vivo Neuroanatomy aided by other senior scientists. The research is largely MR-based but more recently includes Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), EEG as well as combined EEG/FMRI.
Sources of Funding
- Medical Research Council
- Human Frontier Science Program
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Pfizer Ltd
Biography
I performed my undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at Oxford University. During this time I became fascinated with techniques that could examine disease states non-invasively. I therefore remained in Oxford to perform my DPhil studies with Professor Sir George Radda who was pioneering the use of Magnetic Resonance methods to study muscle and brain biochemistry. Subsequent to my doctoral studies, I held a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in the MGH-NMR Centre (Boston, USA) from 1994-1996, where I performed further spectroscopic studies in patients. It was here I became trained in the relatively new technique of FMRI and was introduced to the field of pain research. I returned to the UK in 1997 to help co-found and establish the FMRIB Centre along with my colleagues, Paul Matthews, Steve Smith and Peter Jezzard. In 2001, I was appointed to a University Lectureship in the Department of Human Anatomy and Genetics with a Tutorial Fellowship at Christ Church. I was appointed Director of the FMRIB Centre in 2005 and Professor of Pain Research. In July 2007 I was appointed to the Nuffield Professorship of Anaesthetic Science and my group is now based between that department and Clinical Neurology. I have given many invited talks and plenary presentations at several international pain meetings and have received several awards and prizes (e.g. Gibb's Prize for joint highest First Class, American Academy Neurology International Foreign Scholar). I am a member of several advisory boards for and consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. Most importantly, I have three great and irrepressible kids (Colette, John and Jim) and a very tolerant husband, Myles Allen, who studies the physics of climate change.
Awards Training and Qualifications
- 1985- 1989 BA, Biochemistry, 1st Class, Oxford University
- 1990- 1993 DPhil, Oxford University
Selected Publications
- Tracey Irene and Mantyh Patrick W (2007) The cerebral signature for pain perception and its modulation. Neuron, 55(3):377-91.
- Hadjipavlou George, Dunckley Paul, Behrens Timothy E, and Tracey Irene (2006) Determining anatomical connectivities between cortical and brainstem pain processing regions in humans: a diffusion tensor imaging study in healthy controls. Pain, 123(1-2):169-78.
- Dunckley Paul, Wise Richard G, Fairhurst Merle, Hobden Peter, Aziz Qasim, Chang Lin, and Tracey Irene (2005) A comparison of visceral and somatic pain processing in the human brainstem using functional magnetic resonance imaging. J Neurosci, 25(32):7333-41.
- Iannetti G D, Zambreanu L, Wise R G, Buchanan T J, Huggins J P, Smart T S, Vennart W, and Tracey I (2005) Pharmacological modulation of pain-related brain activity during normal and central sensitization states in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 102(50):18195-200.
- Zambreanu L, Wise R G, Brooks J CW, Iannetti G D, and Tracey I (2005) A role for the brainstem in central sensitisation in humans. Evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging. Pain, 114(3):397-407.
- Bantick Susanna J, Wise Richard G, Ploghaus Alexander, Clare Stuart, Smith Stephen M, and Tracey Irene (2002) Imaging how attention modulates pain in humans using functional MRI. Brain, 125(Pt 2):310-9.
- Tracey Irene, Ploghaus Alexander, Gati Joseph S, Clare Stuart, Smith Steve, Menon Ravi S, and Matthews Paul M (2002) Imaging attentional modulation of pain in the periaqueductal gray in humans. J Neurosci, 22(7):2748-52.
- Wise Richard G, Rogers Richard, Painter Deborah, Bantick Susanna, Ploghaus Alexander, Williams Pauline, Rapeport Garth, and Tracey Irene (2002) Combining fMRI with a pharmacokinetic model to determine which brain areas activated by painful stimulation are specifically modulated by remifentanil. Neuroimage, 16(4):999-1014.
- Ploghaus A, Narain C, Beckmann C F, Clare S, Bantick S, Wise R, Matthews P M, Rawlins J N, and Tracey I (2001) Exacerbation of pain by anxiety is associated with activity in a hippocampal network. J Neurosci, 21(24):9896-903.
- Ploghaus A, Tracey I, Gati J S, Clare S, Menon R S, Matthews P M, and Rawlins J N (1999) Dissociating pain from its anticipation in the human brain. Science, 284(5422):1979-81.
