Our laboratory studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the generation and maintenance of chronic pain, evaluating potential therapeutic strategies that allow relief to patients. Pain is a beneficial physiological process since it acts as an alarm signal for detecting the presence of an injury and promoting actions aimed at protecting the affected tissue and preventing further damage. However, when pain becomes chronic it stops confering these protective advantages. The permanent, intense and escruciating pain is accompanied by sleep disorders, anxiety and depression, severely affecting the quality of life. The generation of chronic pain can appear as a consequence of injuries or diseases of the nervous system and in that case it is called neuropathic pain. Unfortunately, the mechanisms that cause neuropathic pain remain elusive, and no effective therapies exists for its treatment. This constitutes a critical problem for public health, generating enormous suffering to afflicted patients, a wide range of socio-economic consequences and a real challenge for biomedical research. Therefore, developing new strategies and/or identifying novel molecular targets for effectively treating persistent pain is the main objective of our work