About Me

I am most proud of a series of innovative contributions that opened new research avenues and in which my research was the first, or among the first, in the literature. These include:

Prof. Devor has contributed considerably to the understanding of the neurobiological basis of neuropathic pain. More recently he has also investigated mechanisms involved loss of consciousness and pain-free surgery. His laboratory has published extensively in the pain field, with work of a notably integrative nature involving neurophysiology, computer simulations, neuroanatomy (light and electron microscopy), genetics, and behavioral models. He is author of over 300 publications in the field of pain science. >20,000 career citations, h-index 73, i10 index 193.

EDUCATION

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Pain mechansisms, particularly neuropathic pain.

Heritability of pain and pain genetics.

1966 - 1970

Princeton University

A.B., Department of Psychology (minor biology)

Mechanisms of general anaesthesia and the transition from wakefulness to unconsciousness.

Basis of pain-free surgery under general anesthesia.

Development and plasticity in the olfactory cortex.

Nerve growth and regeneration.

Synaptic plasticity and map reorganization in the spinal cord after nerve injury.

1970 - 1975

M.I.T. , Cambridge Mass

Ph.D., Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences

1975

University College London

Postdoctoral Fellow under Prof. P.D Wall

Motivation: hypothalamic control of hunger and thirst. Self-stimulation reward. Pheromones

1975 -1977

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Postdoctoral Fellow under Prof. P.D Wall

Identified a critical period for regeneration of severed axons in the olfactory cortex and patterns of neuroplastic axonal reoganization.
Among the first research on collateral sprouting in the skin following nerve injury (rats & humans).
Discovery of neuroplastic reorganization of somatosensory maps in the spinal dorsal horn and cortex following peripheral nerve injury. This work was subsequently extended by others to primates and humans.
Established ectopic discharge in nerve end neuromas as a fundamental factor in neuropathic pain.
Demonstrated that corticosteroids and anticonvulsants suppress ectopia and hence neuropathic pain.
Discovery of “sympathetic-sensory coupling" as a factor in neuropathic pain, and its association with sympathetic sprouting in the cut nerve end and the dorsal root ganglion (DRG).
Establishment of the first animal model of neuropathic pain, the “neuroma model”, still widely used.
Discovered the contribution of Na+ channel accumulation in axons to hyperexcitability and neuropathic pain.
First demonstration of ephaptic crosstalk at nerve injury sites, previously only a medical speculation.
Selection-line strains were used to establish that susceptibility to neuro-pathic pain is heritable; a foundational discovery of "Pain Genetics".
First use of correlational analysis for defining fundamental pain “types”.
Identification of Cacng2 (stargazin) as a susceptibility gene for neuro-pathic pain (animals and man).
Novel mechanism and potential treatment of osteoarthritic pain based intrinsic innervation & dental root canal analogy.
“Ignition Hypothesis” of pain paroxysms in Trigeminal Neuralgia.
Discovery of chemically-mediated non-ephaptic/ non-synaptic crosstalk among injured afferent axons and DRG somata.
Discovered neuropathic hyperexcitability in DRG neurons and the role of subthreshold oscillations in DRG ectopia.
"Algoneurons" defined as neurons whose activity evokes the experience of pain (contrasting with "nociceptors", defined by their receptive field).
Discovered the brainstem MPTA, a key node in the network sub-serving brain-state transitions induced by GABAergic anesthetic agents.
First direct evidence that phantom limb sensation and phantom limb pain in human amputees is driven primarily from the DRG.
Novel hypothesis concerning the causes of pain in herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia.

Curriculum Vitae

Full Publication List