Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Systems Biology of Pain

Artwork by Julia Regina Sondermann

Mission statement

Research in our laboratory is driven by our motivation to decipher the dynamics of protein networks underlying vertebrate somatosensation in health, development (aging) and disease (chronic pain). Methodologically, we combine molecular biology, biochemistry and latest proteomics techniques, electrophysiology, pharmacology, mouse models of painful pathologies and in vivo virus-mediated gene transfer. 

This multidisciplinary approach has enabled us to reveal ion channel-associated signaling complexes (i.e. the interactome of TRPV1, TRPA1 and Piezo2 channels) with pathological relevance for pain. Moreover, in a quantitative systems biology approach, we investigate spatiotemporal proteome dynamics both in mice and humans. Our research lives from our fruitful collaborations with basic researchers and clinicians alike facilitating forward and reverse translation of our research results. 

In this way we strive to gain mechanistic insights into developmental and pain-associated plasticity – an endeavor, which lies at the heart of both understanding the molecular signature of chronic pain and identifying novel drug targets.

Team

  • Univ. Prof. Manuela Schmidt, PhD. (Head of Research Group)
  • Dr. David Gomez Varela (Senior Scientist)
  • Giacomo Carta, PhD (Senior Scientist)
  • Felix Feyertag, PhD (Postdoc)
  • Lukas Uhrik, MSc. PhD(Postdoc)
  • Feng Xian, PhD (Postdoc)
  • Sebastian Johannes Eder (Praedoc)
  • Christos Athanasios Thivaios, MSC (Praedoc)
  • Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud Hussein, BSc. MSc, PhD (TA)
  • Nicole Kanta, BSc. MSc (TA)
  • Natascha Deutsch (animal care facility)
  • Peter Höflich (animal care facility)
     

Selected recent publications

2026

Sondermann, JR, Barry, AM, Xian, F, Haberl, T, Gomez-Varela, D, Benseler, F, Schreiner, D, Brose, N, Lipstein, N & Schmidt, M 2026, 'Proximity Labelling Reveals the Compartmental Proteome of Murine Sensory Neurons', European Journal of Pain, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. e70277. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.70277

Haroutounian, S, Segelcke, D, Sondermann, JR, Pradier, B, Vollert, J, Xian, F, Alaverdyan, H, Holzer, KJ, Bernstein, H, Bulenda, C, Schmidt, M & Pogatzki-Zahn, EM 2026, 'Proteome-assisted multi-feature discriminant modelling of chronic post-surgical pain in female patients: A proof-of-concept study', Pharmacological Research, vol. 227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2026.108175

2025

Grundtner, S, Xian, F, Malzl, D, Radits, T, Barry, AM, Sondermann, JR, Menche, J, Gómez-Varela, D & Schmidt, M 2025, 'Temporal and demographic patterns of peripheral nerve proteomes in preclinical neuropathic pain', Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, vol. 193, 118855. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2025.118855

Haiss, P, Liu, R, Xian, F, Varela, DG, Schmidt, M, Dirsch, VM & Blažević, T 2025, 'Evodiamine induces centrosome amplification with subsequent G2/M cell cycle arrest in primary vascular smooth muscle cells', Biochemical Pharmacology, vol. 242, no. Pt 2, 117320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2025.117320

Barry, AM, Sondermann, JR, Lesnak, JB, Xian, F, Franco-Enzástiga, Ú, O’Brien, JA, Varela, DG, Schackmuth, MK, Shiers, S, Price, TJ & Schmidt, M 2025, 'Multi-omic integration with human dorsal root ganglia proteomics highlights TNFα signalling as a relevant sexually dimorphic pathway', Pain, vol. 166, no. 10, pp. 2386-2402. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003656

Xian, F, Brenek, M, Krisp, C, Urbauer, E, Kumar, RKR, Aguanno, D, Srikumar, T, Liu, Q, Barry, AM, Ma, B, Krieger, J, Haller, D, Schmidt, M & Gómez-Varela, D 2025, 'Ultra-sensitive metaproteomics redefines the dark metaproteome, uncovering host-microbiome interactions and drug targets in intestinal diseases', Nature Communications, vol. 16, 6644. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61977-7

Sondermann, JR, Barry, A, Xian, F, Haberl, T, Gomez Varela, D, Benseler, F, Schreiner, D, Lipstein, N, Brose, N & Schmidt, M 2025 'Proximity labelling reveals the compartmental proteome of murine sensory neurons' bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, bioRxiv, pp. 1-53. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.13.659475

Lohrberg, M, Mortensen, LS, Thomas, C, Fries, F, van der Meer, F, Götz, A, Landt, C, Rhee, HJ, Rhee, J, Gómez-Varela, D, Schmidt, M, Möbius, W, Ruhwedel, T, Pardo, LA, Remling, L, Kramann, N, Wrzos, C, Bahn, E, Stadelmann, C & Barrantes-Freer, A 2025, 'Astroglial modulation of synaptic function in the non-demyelinated cerebellar cortex is dependent on MyD88 signaling in a model of toxic demyelination', Journal of Neuroinflammation, vol. 22, no. 1, 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12974-025-03368-9

Segelcke, D, Sondermann, JR, Kappert, C, Padier, B, Görlich, D, Fobker, M, Vollert, J, Zahn, PK, Schmidt, M & Pogatzki-Zahn, EM 2025, 'Blood proteomics and multimodal risk profiling of human volunteers after incision injury: A translational study for advancing personalized pain management after surgery', Pharmacological Research, vol. 212, 107580. <http://10.1016/j.phrs.2025.107580>

Xian, F, Brenek, M, Krisp, C, Aguanno, D, Urbauer, E, Srikumar, T, Ravi Kumar, RK, Liu, Q, Barry, A, Ma, B, Krieger, J, Haller, D, Schmidt, M & Gomez Varela, D 2025 'Ultra-sensitivity metaproteomics redefines the gut “dark metaproteome”, uncovering host-microbiome interactions and drug targets in intestinal inflammatory diseases' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.22.590295

Grundtner, S, Sondermann, JR, Xian, F, Malzl, D, Segelcke, D, Pogatzki-Zahn, EM, Menche, J, Gómez-Varela, D & Schmidt, M 2025, 'Deep proteomics and network pharmacology reveal sex- and age-shared neuropathic pain signatures in mouse dorsal root ganglia', Pharmacological Research, vol. 211, 107552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2024.107552

Schmidt, M 2025, 'Systematic review and quantitative trend analysis of scientific quality in preclinical studies using rodent models of post-surgical pain', Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2025.106422

2024

Barry, A, Price, T & Schmidt, M, Bulk Proteomics (DIA-MS) of Human Dorsal Root Ganglion v1, 2024, Web publication. https://doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.j8nlk8j56l5r/v1

Urbauer, E, Aguanno, D, Mindermann, N, Omer, H, Metwaly, A, Krammel, T, Faro, T, Remke, M, Reitmeier, S, Bärthel, S, Kersting, J, Huang, Z, Xian, F, Schmidt, M, Saur, D, Huber, S, Stecher, B, List, M, Gómez-Varela, D, Steiger, K, Allez, M, Rath, E & Haller, D 2024, 'Mitochondrial perturbation in the intestine causes microbiota-dependent injury and gene signatures discriminative of inflammatory disease', Cell Host & Microbe, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 1347-1364.e10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2024.06.013

Barry, A, Schmidt, M & Price, T, Bulk proteomics of naive human dorsal root ganglion, 2024, Software or database. https://doi.org/10.26275/z7uy-kuif

Barry, A, Sondermann, JR, Lesnak, J, Xian, F, Franco-Enzástiga, Ú, O’Brien, J, Gomez Varela, D, Schackmuth, M, Shiers, S, Price, T & Schmidt, M 2024 'Multi-omic integration with human DRG proteomics highlights TNFα signalling as a relevant sexually dimorphic pathway' bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.06.626968

2023

Gómez-Varela, D, Xian, F, Grundtner, S, Sondermann, JR, Carta, G & Schmidt, M 2023, 'Increasing taxonomic and functional characterization of host-microbiome interactions by DIA-PASEF metaproteomics', Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 14, 1258703. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1258703

Segelcke, D, van der Burgt, M, Kappert, C, Schmidt Garcia, D, Sondermann, JR, Bigalke, S, Pradier, B, Gomez-Varela, D, Zahn, PK, Schmidt, M & Pogatzki-Zahn, EM 2023, 'Phenotype- and species-specific skin proteomic signatures for incision-induced pain in humans and mice', British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA), vol. 130, no. 3, pp. 331-342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2022.10.040

2022

Xian, F, Sondermann, JR, Gomez Varela, D & Schmidt, M 2022, 'Deep proteome profiling reveals signatures of age and sex differences in paw skin and sciatic nerve of naïve mice', eLife, vol. 11, e81431. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81431

Schmidt, M, Sondermann, JR, Gomez-Varela, D, Çubuk, C, Millet, Q, Lewis, MJ, Wood, JN & Zhao, J 2022, 'Transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of NaV1.8-expressing mouse nociceptors', Frontiers in molecular neuroscience, vol. 15, 1002842. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2022.1002842

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