Contact
Biography
I completed my undergraduate degree in Neuroscience here at the University of Nottingham, before going on to undertake doctoral studies in Victoria Chapman's lab, utilising behavioural, electrophysiological, and molecular biological approaches to study the role of the spinal cannabinoid and vanillloid systems in models of acute and chronic pain. I subsequently spent 5 years in Budapest, Hungary, conducting post-doctoral research on the anatomy of the spinal endocannabinoid system in Istvan Katona's lab at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, acquiring complementary expertise in immunohistochemical techniques including STORM super-resolution imaging. I returned to Nottingham in 2016 to establish the application of STORM imaging to quantify nanoscale anatomical correlates of pain in neural tissue. Subsequent work combined anatomical and physiological techniques to reveal insights into spinal mechanisms of pain, including investigating the link between anxiety, opioids and OA pain in a translationally-relevant preclinical model, studying the effects of healthy aging on spinal sensory network function, and demonstrating that prior opioid exposure exacerbates OA pain in females. In summer 2025, I took up a teaching-focused position on the Neuroscience degree, with roles in module design & convenorship, as well as all aspects of delivering teaching and assessment.
Expertise Summary
Teaching & Learning: Designing and delivering teaching and assessment in a wide range of contexts, from large lectures and practical workshops to small group tutorials and laboratory projects
Research Skills: In vivo rodent pain models (inflammatory, osteoarthritis), in vivo spinal electrophysiology, ELISAs, Western blotting and enzyme activity assays, immunohistochemistry (DAB, fluorescence, electron microscopy) & STORM super-resolution imaging.
Recent Publications
BURSTON JJ, VALDES AM, WOODHAMS SG, MAPP PI, STOCKS J, WATSON DJG, GOWLER PRW, XU L, SAGAR DR, FERNANDES G, FROWD N, MARSHALL L, ZHANG W, DOHERTY M, WALSH DA and CHAPMAN V, 2019. The impact of anxiety on chronic musculoskeletal pain and the role of astrocyte activation. Pain. 160(3), 658-669 GOWLER, PETER R. W., LI, LI, WOODHAMS, STEPHEN G., BENNETT, ANDREW J., SUZUKI, RIE, WALSH, DAVID A. and CHAPMAN, VICTORIA, 2019. Peripheral brain derived neurotrophic factor contributes to chronic osteoarthritis joint pain: PAIN Pain. Articles in Press, BURSTON, JAMES J., VALDES, ANA M., WOODHAMS, STEPHEN G., MAPP, PAUL I., STOCKS, JOANNE, WATSON, DAVID J.G., GOWLER, PETER R.W., XU, LUTING, SAGAR, DEVI R., FERNANDES, GWEN, FROWD, NADIA, MARSHALL, LAURA, ZHANG, WEIYA, DOHERTY, MICHAEL, WALSH, DAVID A. and CHAPMAN, VICTORIA, 2019. The impact of anxiety on chronic musculoskeletal pain and the role of astrocyte activation: PAIN Pain. 160(3), 658-669 WOODHAMS, STEPHEN G., MARKUS, ROBERT, GOWLER, PETER R.W., SELF, TIMOTHY J. and CHAPMAN, VICTORIA, 2019. Cell type–specific super-resolution imaging reveals an increase in calcium-permeable AMPA receptors at spinal peptidergic terminals as an anatomical correlate of inflammatory pain: PAIN Pain. Articles in Press,