Cheryl L. Stucky, PhD
Marvin Wagner Professor
Locations
- Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy
Contact Information
Education
Postdoctoral, University of W眉rzburg, W眉rzburg, Germany and Max Delbr眉ck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany
Biography
Job openings in the Stucky Lab
Seeking Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF)
Seeking Technician (PDF)
Stucky Lab News
Stucky Lab identifies a new, non-opioid based target for treating chronic pain: TRPC5 (Science Translational Magazine)
Research Interests
Chronic pain affects approximately 100 million adults in the United States, costing around $635 billion and many patients are sub-optimally treated as a result of limited understanding of the mechanistic causes of the chronic pain. The Stucky Lab has made key contributions to the pain field’s understanding of how ion channels on pain-sensing neurons contribute to pain and touch sensation. We are known for the unique “skin-nerve” recording technique whereby sensory afferent responses from rodents are measured in their native skin environment. We were the first lab to demonstrate that the Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel is essential for detection of painful mechanical stimuli in normal, non-injured skin by using parallel genetic deletion and pharmacological inhibition of the TRPA1 channel. This work was published in the Journal of Neuroscience and Molecular Pain in 2009. Since that time, numerous publications have emerged that further build upon this work, including a widely-cited manuscript demonstrating that TRPA1 is responsible for the mechanical sensitization of pain receptors after tissue inflammation (Lennertz et al., 2012, PLoS ONE), and therefore, can serve as a target for inhibiting pain in many common inflammatory disorders.
An exciting current direction in our lab is identifying the mechanisms underlying the role of chronic pain in damaged skin, by examining the bidirectional signaling between keratinocytes and sensory neurons in normal and tissue-injured skin. While sensory neurons have long been known to mediate touch and pain transduction, epidermal keratinocytes are the initial “first responders” to tactile stimuli. We are dissecting the cellular mechanisms by which keratinocytes communicate with sensory nerve terminals, and conversely, the mechanisms by which sensory neurons communicate and sensitize keratinocytes during tissue injury. We are using multiple complementary pharmacological and cutting edge site-selective genetic approaches, such as optogenetic silencing, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and “cell sniffer” assays to interrogate the mechanistic direction and molecules underlying keratinocyte to sensory neuron signaling in vivo.
Another major area of focus is on translational models of chronic pain including inflammation, nerve injury and diseases associated with devastating pain, particularly in areas of unmet medical need. For example, patients with sickle cell disease have severe pain during red cell sickling crises and develop chronic underlying pain; effective treatments for this pain are lacking. We have made key discoveries in mechanisms that underlie the severe pain in sickle cell disease by performing parallel studies in mouse models of sickle cell disease and concomitantly measuring pain in patients with sickle cell disease (Hillery et al., 2011, Blood; Brandow et al., 2013, American Journal of Hematology; Zappia et al., 2014, Pain). Sickle cell disease is of particular interest because 1) it has aspects of chronic as well as acute pain, 2) the pain develops naturally as part of the underlying disease and therefore, may serve as a model for other naturally-occurring types of chronic pain in humans, and 3) parallel studies in the animal models and in patients with sickle cell disease can be conducted by the same laboratory.
Support for these projects
R01 NS40538; R01 NS070711; R21 NS095627-01; Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin
Publications
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(Sarka BC, Liu S, Banerjee A, Stucky CL, Liu QS, Olsen CM.) Addict Biol. 2024 Aug;29(8):e13430 PMID: 39121884 PMCID: PMC11315577 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85200756850 08/10/2024
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(Rodríguez García DM, Szabo A, Mikesell AR, Zorn SJ, Tsafack UK, Sriram A, Waltz TB, Enders JD, Mecca CM, Stucky CL, Sadler KE.) Pain. 2024 Jul 01;165(7):1569-1582 PMID: 38314814 PMCID: PMC11189758 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85196767632 02/05/2024
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(Allison RL, Welby E, Ehlers V, Burand A, Isaeva O, Nieves Torres D, Highland J, Brandow AM, Stucky CL, Ebert AD.) Blood. 2024 May 16;143(20):2037-2052 PMID: 38427938 PMCID: PMC11143522 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85189689054 03/01/2024
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(Waltz TB, Chao D, Prodoehl EK, Enders JD, Ehlers VL, Dharanikota BS, Dahms NM, Isaeva E, Hogan QH, Pan B, Stucky CL.) JCI Insight. 2024 Mar 07;9(8) PMID: 38646936 PMCID: PMC11141882 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85191335156 04/22/2024
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(Mikesell AR, Isaeva E, Schulte ML, Menzel AD, Sriram A, Prahl MM, Shin SM, Sadler KE, Yu H, Stucky CL.) bioRxiv. 2023 Dec 13 PMID: 38168305 PMCID: PMC10760029 01/04/2024
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(Ehlers VL, Sadler KE, Stucky CL.) Pain. 2023 Aug 01;164(8):1874-1886 PMID: 36897169 PMCID: PMC10363186 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85163868805 03/11/2023
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(Chulkov EG, Isaeva E, Stucky CL, Marchant JS.) Int J Parasitol. 2023 Jul;53(8):427-434 PMID: 36610555 PMCID: PMC10258140 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85146298174 01/08/2023
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(Waltz TB, Chao D, Prodoehl EK, Ehlers VL, Dharanikota BS, Dahms NM, Isaeva E, Hogan QH, Pan B, Stucky CL.) bioRxiv. 2023 May 28 PMID: 37292928 PMCID: PMC10245981 06/09/2023
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(Sadler KE, Atkinson SN, Ehlers VL, Waltz TB, Hayward M, Rodríguez García DM, Salzman NH, Stucky CL, Brandow AM.) bioRxiv. 2023 Apr 28 PMID: 37163080 PMCID: PMC10168372 05/10/2023
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(Allison RL, Burand A, Torres DN, Brandow AM, Stucky CL, Ebert AD.) bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 10 PMID: 36711992 PMCID: PMC9882050 01/31/2023
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(Burand AJ Jr, Waltz TB, Manis AD, Hodges MR, Stucky CL.) Neurobiol Pain. 2023;13:100113 PMID: 36660199 PMCID: PMC9843259 01/21/2023
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(Mikesell AR, Isaeva O, Moehring F, Sadler KE, Menzel AD, Stucky CL.) Elife. 2022 Sep 02;11 PMID: 36053009 PMCID: PMC9512397 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85139375441 09/03/2022
Awards, interviews & articles
- North American Pain School 2019:
- Javits Neuroscience Award (PDF)
- Women鈥檚 History Month
- International Innovation (PDF)
- Standing Ovation Award for 2008 from 91九色视频 Medical Students for teaching Medical Neuroscience
- Bethel College Young Alumni Award for 2004
- John C. Liebeskind Early Career Scholar Award for 2002 for outstanding accomplishments in pain scholarship