Rewiring neuropeptide signaling to therapeutic outcomes with GLumigenetics

Chronic pain affects nearly one in four adults in the U.S., yet current treatments like opioids often come with serious risks, including dependence and overdose. Our project aims to develop a completely new way to relieve chronic pain by regulating the body’s own pain-signaling neuropeptides in a smarter and safer way. Instead of blocking these signals with drugs, we are creating a gene therapy system—called GLumigenetics—that detects the neuropeptides driving pain signaling and then rewires them to pain suppression, only in specific nerve cells and only when needed. This method uses neuropeptide-initiated light production to drive light-gated channels to control neuronal electrical activity. This new technology could offer long-lasting relief without the side effects of current treatments. If successful, it could also help treat other conditions by rewiring how our cells respond to natural chemical signals.