Mr Tyler Browne

Tyler Browne graduated from the Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Honours) at the University of Newcastle. Soon after, he began his PhD with Professor Brett Graham in the Spinal Cord Connections Group where his focus was on the Spinal Projection Neurons in a region of the spinal cord that is implicated in the transmission of signals that lead to the sensation of touch and pain, The Dorsal Horn.

While pain is a negative experience, it is a crucial alarm for an organism to adapt and survive, either in response to the external environment or the state of their own internal environment. However, in some individuals pain does not resolve and becomes pathological, leading to the perception of pain either without stimulus or in response to a normally non-painful stimuli. It is in this  chronic pain state, that better treatments are most needed as those that are currently available are ineffective, addictive and have a high side effect profile.

Tyler’s research has focused on how the fundamental units of the nervous system, the Neurons, are collected into circuits that represent the world around an organism to convey these alarm signals to the brain. It is hoped by understanding how these circuits are arranged and who the key players are within the Dorsal Horn and wider nervous system, better, more selective treatment targets and strategies will be identified to aid in the management of Chronic Pain.