A NeuRA and UNSW chronic pain project has received $836,000 through a National Health and Medical Research Council international collaborative grant program. 

Dr Yann Quidé, a Research Fellow from UNSW Sydney and Affiliated Scientist in NeuRA’s Centre for Pain Impact, will be a chief investigator and Australian principal investigator on the PAINCODE project, which received funding under the NHMRC’s international collaboration with the Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research (NEURON).

Chronic pain affects around 20% of people worldwide significantly impacting daily life and functioning, as well as societal wellbeing.

The project, ​‘PAINCODE: unravelling the neural code of predictive dysfunction in chronic pain and anxiety in humans and mice’, will study how brain circuits that predict and respond to threats are altered in those experiencing chronic pain and anxiety with the aim to improve personalised treatments, reduce disability, and support better care and policy for chronic pain and mental health.

“Growing evidence indicates that the brain operates as a prediction system, using past experiences to anticipate potential threats,” Dr Quidé said.

“In chronic pain, these predictions can lead to the brain responding as if harm is present, even when the body is safe. This project aims to identify how these disrupted prediction processes arise and whether specific patterns of brain activity can help improve personalised treatments, reduce disability, and support better care and policy for chronic pain and mental health.

“We hope this will support more precise diagnosis and treatments for chronic pain and anxiety.”

Dr Quidé will be supported by fellow NeuRA and UNSW researcher, Dr Nell Norman-Nott, and working with researchers in Germany, France and Israel.

“This is a new collaborative consortium, as this project grew out of converging interests in how chronic pain and anxiety affect the brain,” Dr Quidé said.

“As our respective groups were addressing related questions from different angles and species, informal scientific exchanges revealed a clear overlap and natural synergy, which ultimately led to the creation of this collaboration.”

Researchers will use brain imaging, animal models and computational methods to uncover the causes of the brain predictive dysfunction in chronic pain and anxiety.

Established under the Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research (ERA-NET) scheme of the European Commission, NEURON aims to coordinate and optimise research efforts and funding programs in the field of mental, neurological and sensory disorders. The 2025 NHMRC-NEURON funding call supports Australian participation and collaboration in transnational research projects on ​‘Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Neuroscience of Pain’.