# Pediatric Persistent Post-surgical Pain: From Animals to Application (Supplement)

> **NIH NIH K23** · BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL · 2020 · $53,977

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Pediatric chronic pain is a serious public health problem resulting in high levels of healthcare utilization and
disability. The physical and psychological consequences associated with chronic pain impact overall health and
can predispose the development of adult chronic pain. Specifically, there has been an inadequate amount of
research conducted on pediatric chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP), which is urgently required given that
over 5 million children undergo surgery each year and 25% of adults presenting to chronic pain clinics identify
surgery as the antecedent. The current translational research project utilizes animal models, humans,
genetics, and psychophysiological techniques to enhance our understanding of these mechanisms. The long-
term goal of this K23 award is for the candidate to establish an independent translational research career
aimed at developing mechanistically based behavioral interventions. The intent of the proposed project is to
develop an animal model exploring how gene-environmental interactions, age, and biological sex contribute to
pre- and post-surgical pain thresholds, which will serve as a first step to functionally assaying genetic
mechanisms we hope to discover in the gene association arm of our human studies. The human arm of this
project is two-fold; examining the role of childhood stress and genetic pain risk on current pain and functioning
in a large cohort of adult surgical patients, as well examining the sensory, psychosocial, and genetic predictors
of CPSP and related functional disability in adolescent patients with idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) undergoing spinal
fusion surgery. This population was selected as a model condition as patients with AIS are usually otherwise
healthy, the surgery is invasive and complex and the candidate’s research indicates that that a high proportion
of these patients go onto to develop moderate to severe pain 5 years after surgery once the patients are
adults. The primary training objective of the K23 has been to acquire expertise in pain genetics, animal models,
and translational research. The candidate is accomplishing this through: 1) mentorship in a clinical/research
environment, 2) hands-on training in animal models and genetics by the candidate’s sponsor and co-sponsors
complemented by didactics in genetics and advanced statistics, and 3) execution of the proposed research
plan. These studies will provide the necessary data to inform the development of an R01 to focus on an
epigenetic model to identify study genes, which markedly alter the risk profile for CPSP and which will inform
the development of new drug targets and behavioral interventions for those at greatest risk.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10150220
- **Project number:** 3K23GM123372-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Christine Barrett Sieberg
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $53,977
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2016-09-05 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10150220

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10150220, Pediatric Persistent Post-surgical Pain: From Animals to Application (Supplement) (3K23GM123372-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10150220. Licensed CC0.

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