All news from 2021 and onwards are found via the Instagram posts (see above)
June 8, 2021
Twin study published in Cerebral Cortex
Our article, performed in collaboration with Prof Fredrik Åhs (MIUN), Prof Irene Tracey and Prof Tom E. Nichols (Oxford University), is now accepted for publication in Cerebral Cortex. In this study, we used a twin-design to determine the heritability of nociceptive processing in the brain. Kudos to PhD-student Granit Kastrati who is the first author!
Kastrati G, Rosén J, Thompson WH, Chen X, Larsson H, Nichols TE, Tracey I, Fransson P, Åhs F, Jensen K. Genetic influence on nociceptive processing in the human brain – a twin study. Cerebral Cortex. (In Press June 2021).
May 17, 2021
New article available as preprint on Medrxiv
We have just published unique data from a study on individuals with self-injury behavior. The results are presented as a preprint on MedRxiv.
In spite of significant problems with emotional regulation, individuals with self-harm have a more pronounced inhibition of pain, compared to controls.
Please find the full article here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.12.21257091v1.full.pdf
March 4, 2021
The SCAS Talks Podcast about Pain and Placebo Effects
Karin Jensen records a podcast at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala. She is interviewed by science journalist Nathalie von Der Lehr. Listen to the podcast here.
February 19, 2021
Thesis defense Angelica Sandström
PhD student Angelica Sandström defended her thesis in Biomedicum today! The title of the thesis was: Multimodal Neuroimaging of Pain and Inflammation in the Central Nervous System in Chronic Pain Patients with Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Principal Supervisor: Eva Kosek, Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Co-supervisor: Karin Jensen, Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Co-supervisor: Camilla Svensson, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
February 16, 2021
Podcast about pain and the brain
Karin talks to Gunilla Brodda Jansen about pain and the brain in Pain Podden, a Swedish podcast about pain and ways to reduce pain.
Episode 18 with Karin Jensen can be found here
February 9, 2021
Article accepted in Pain Reports
Our two experiments about Offset Analgesia, and Onset Hyperalgesia, have been accepted for publication in Pain Reports. Kudos to Jens and the rest of the team who led the work!
Fust J, Lalouni M, Vadenmark Lundqvist V, Wärnberg E, Jensen K. Offset analgesia and onset hyperalgesia with different stimulus ranges. Pain Rep. 2021 Mar 24;6(1):e914.
December 1, 2020
Pain Talks - The Advent Calendar
Our advent calendar gives you a new scientific fact about pain every day until Christmas!
Please follow us on Instagram to see the calendar: @kipainandbrain
December 1, 2020
“Predicting pain” - Article accepted in Pain
Our study that compares pain perception during self-induced pain with pain induced by someone else (and a condition when one is imagining that pain is self-induced) is accepted for publication in pain. The results elucidate a process called self-attenuation where a sensory event is felt less when it is self-induced. Hence, pain is less strong when it is self-induced, for the same reasons why we can’t tickle ourselves.
Lalouni, Fust, Vadenmark-Lundqvist, Ehrsson, Kilteni, Jensen. Predicting pain: differential pain thresholds during self-induced, externally induced and imagined self-induced pressure pain. Pain, In Press, 2020.
November 8, 2020
New article by the Consortium of Placebo Experts
What Should Clinicians Tell Patients about Placebo and Nocebo Effects? A consensus article is now published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by a placebo expert group, including Karin Jensen. The article addresses the possibilities to harness placebo effects in clinical practice.
Evers, Colloca, Blease, Gaab, Jensen et al. What Should Clinicians Tell Patients about Placebo and Nocebo Effects? Practical Considerations Based on Expert Consensus. Psychother Psychosom; 2020 Oct 19;1-8. doi: 10.1159/000510738.
Photo: Headway (Unsplash)
November 1, 2020
Martin Jonsjö joins the lab
We are happy to announce that clinical psychologist and researcher Martin Jonsjö has joined the lab. Martin defended his thesis in 2019 on the topic of ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and combines his research with clinical work at the Karolinska University Hospital. Martin is interested in placebo effects and is currently planning his studies to be performed in our lab. Welcome!
August 26, 2020
Article accepted in Science Advances
Our project about the brain processes during patient-practitioner interactions has been accepted for publication in Science Advances. The brain of the patient and the practitioner was scanned at the same time, so-called “hyper scanning”. The project was part of a collaboration between our lab and Harvard Medical School, USA.
Ellingsen, Isenburg, Jung, Lee, Gerber, Mawla, Sclocco, Jensen K, Edwards, Kelley, Kirsch, Kaptchuk, Napadow. Dynamic brain-to-brain concordance and behavioral mirroring as a mechanism of the patient-clinician interaction. Science Advances. 2020 Oct 21;6(43):eabc1304. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abc1304.
August 26, 2020
Half-time seminar for PhD-student Jens Fust
Welcome to join Jens’ presentation of his thesis work!
Day: Wednesday, Sep 2
Time: 13:00
ZOOM: https://ki-se.zoom.us/j/67040542145
Supervisors: Karin Jensen (main supervisor), Eva Kosek (co-supervisor), Clara Hellner (co-supervisor)
Half-time committee: India Morrison (LiU), Maria Zetterqvist (LiU), Erik Anderson (KI)
August 26, 2020
Half-time seminar for PhD-student Granit Kastrati
Welcome to join Granit’s presentation of his thesis work!
Day: Thursday August 27
Time: 10:00
ZOOM: https://ki-se.zoom.us/j/63571454724
Supervisors: Karin Jensen (main supervisor), Peter Fransson (co-supervisor), Fredrik Åhs (co-supervisor), William H. Thompson (co-supervisor)
Half-time committee: Anders Eklund (LiU), Daniel Lundqvist (KI), Grégoria Kalpouzos (KI)
April 28, 2020
Article accepted on the role of opioids in pain conditioning
Our article on the effects of an opioid antagonist (naltrexone) on pain conditioning has been accepted for publication in Molecular Pain. This project was a collaboration with Joar Guterstam at the Center for Psychiatry Research at (Karolinska Institute), and the lab’s own Moa Pontén was the first author. Our data suggests that expectations of high or low pain can be learned without access to the brain’s opioid system.
Pontén M, Fust J, Kosek E, Guterstam J, Jensen KB. Naltrexone during pain conditioning—a double-blind placebo-controlled experimental trial. Mol Pain, In press.
March 26, 2020
Media writes about our meta-analysis on placebo and erectile dysfunction
Alexander Stridh is interviewed regarding our paper on placebo responses in studies of Viagra (and similar drugs) for treatment of erectile dysfunction. US News, Renal and Urology News, Healthy Day, and Medical Press have published news about the paper in JAMA Network Open, published March 20, 2020.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2762993
February 3, 2020
Article accepted on placebo effects in treatment of erectile dysfunction
It has been 20 years since Viagra was approved for treatment among men with erectile dysfunction. Since then, Viagra has become the world’s most famous drug name (and the most counterfeited). In a meta-analysis, performed in collaboration with Stefan Arver at KIs ANOVA, and Irving Kirsch at Harvard Medical School, we show that there are placebo responses on erectile function among men who use PDE5Is (such as Vigra, Cialis etc.). As expected, there is also a significant and unique effect of the drug itself. The study comments on the reputation of a drug, and shows placebo responses in a physical condition not commonly thought of as responsive to placebo. The study will soon be published in JAMA Network Open. The first author is Alexander Stridh, MD student at KI.
January 22, 2020
William Hedley Thompson joins the lab
We are happy to announce that William Hedley Thompson has joined our research group. He is a senior postdoctoral researcher (graduated in 2017) who has just finished a postdoc at Stanford University, USA. William’s research includes the development of new methods for probing the human brain connectome.
William’s recently published piece on open science in Elife:
January 22, 2020
Lab kick-off 2020
A whole day of planning and discussing. All our scientific projects were presented in a Project Blitz, with following discussions. It is going to be a very exciting scientific year in the lab. And, for the first time in a long time the sun was shining over Stockholm!
December 16-17, 2019
CogNeS PhD programme, Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Before Christmas, Karin Jensen was a guest lecturer at the international programme in cognitive neuroscience in Krakow; invited by Professor Przemyslaw Babel of the Jagiellonian University. Picture: the Babel research group.
December 13, 2019
A scientific and social event at Halv Grek Plus Turk
A joint evening with the Pain Neuroimaging Lab and the labs of Prof. Peter Fransson and Prof. Eva Kosek, focusing on the science of pain.
December 9, 2019
We arranged the Pain Talks at Karolinska Institutet
A whole day symposium on the science of pain was arranged by our group. The lecture hall was filled with people from many different backgrounds: medical students, pain doctors, medical technology people, psychologists, neuroscientists, chiropractors, journalists, patient organisations and more. Thank you for coming, you made the day into a success!
December 6, 2019
Aarhus University Dissertation - and new brain imaging facility
Moa Pontén and Karin Jensen visited Aarhus University’s Lene Vase, and Jensen was an opponent of Sigrid Juhl Lunde’s dissertation on pain and music (https://psy.au.dk/aktuelt/arrangementer/arrangement/artikel/phd-forsvar-sigrid-juhl-lunde/). Jensen had a tour of the new university hospital’s neuroimaging facilities, which provide state-of-the-art PET (see image), MRI, animal research and much more. There were project meetings within the collaborations between the Vase and Jensen research groups.
November 11, 2019
The Lab visits the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS)
We had a lovely all-day meeting at beautiful SCAS in Uppsala, where research group leader Karin is a Pro Futura Fellow.
November 11, 2019
Postdoc Maria Lalouni has released a book
The lab is very proud of Maria Lalouni who recently released the book “What every parent should know”. The book is written together with Kajsa Lönn Rhodin and guides parents through the first twelve years of their child’s life with hands-on advice for successful parenting.
https://www.nok.se/titlar/akademisk-psykologi/vad-alla-foraldrar-borde-fa-veta/)
October 29, 2019
We are now posting news on Instagram too, @kipainandbrain!
#kipainandbrain
October 24, 2019
Research Project Funded by VR Medicine
The research project “Brain and Immune Function Associated with Self-Inflicted and External Pain” has received three years funding from the Swedish Research Council. PI Karin Jensen.
October 22, 2019
Upcoming dissertation by Maria Hedman-Lagerlöf
Our new lab member Maria Hedman-Lagerlöf is currently wrapping up her PhD project and will defend her thesis on December 6, 2019. Maria’s dissertation is titled “Getting close with discomfort: Exposure therapy for fibromyalgia”.
December 6, 13.00, Samuelssonsalen, KI Solna
Opponent: Professor Lance McCracken, Dept Psychology, Uppsala University
Main Supervisor: Erik Andersson (KI)
Co-supervisors: Brjánn Ljótsson (KI), Ida Flink (Örebro), Rikard Wicksell (KI)
October 22, 2019
“Pain Talks” - December 9, 2019
During the Nobel Week this year, we are organising the Pain Talks at Karolinska Institutet in order to highlight the advances in pain science. Leading pain scientists from KI, as well as invited speakers, will guide the audience through the frontiers of pain research. All-day event.
Program to be published soon. Stay tuned.
#kipaintalks
#kipain
October 18, 2019
KI Culture and Creativity Day 2019
The Pain Neuroimaging Lab was well represented on stage at this annual event. PhD candidate Moa Pontén gave cello performances and Karin Jensen gave an edutainment performance on Magic Tricks and Medicine together with magician Tom Stone.
October 18, 2019
Podcast on Placebo Effects
Karin Jensen talks to journalist Andreas Andersson about placebo effects on the popular podcast Medicinvetarna. The episode on placebo effects will be published shortly.
https://ki.se/forskning/medicinvetarna-en-podd-om-kis-forskning
October 16-19
Svenskt Smärtforum - Swedish Pain Society 2019
Two talks about placebo analgesia were given by Karin Jensen during the three day conference of the Swedish Pain Society at Malmö Live, Malmö. One was in a workshop format, mainly for clinicians. The second talk was a general overview of the placebo research field, given in the main auditorium.
October 15, 2019
Funding from StratNeuro for Self-injury and Pain
The project on pain among individuals with non-suicidal self-injury receives 1.6 Million SEK from StratNeuro; the translational research platform for neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, Umeå University and KTH. The project is a collaboration between The Pain Neuroimaging Lab and Professor Clara Hellner’s research group (KI).
October 10, 2019
Article About Placebo Effects - Forskning & Framsteg
An interview with Karin Jensen in the magazine Forskning & Framsteg. The article is about the lack of detailed descriptions of the placebo treatment given to patients in randomised placebo-controlled studies.
https://fof.se/artikel/darfor-spelar-fargen-pa-placebon-roll
October 7, 2019
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is announced
Karin Jensen was in the live studio broadcast during the Nobel Prize announcement. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 was awarded jointly to Kaelin Jr, Ratcliffe and Semenza "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability”. nobelprize.org
October 1, 2019
StratNeuro Retreat 2019
StratNeuro is the strategic research area neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, Umeå University and KTH for integrating clinical and basic research and to foster a new generation of leaders and scientists in translational neuroscience. Karin Jensen gave a talk at the annual retreat at Sånga Säby, titled: Brain processes underlying the perception of pain.
September 19, 2019
Keynote at the Nordic Network for the Cognitive Science of Religion
A keynote talk about the placebo phenomenon was held by Karin Jensen at the Nordic Network for the Cognitive Science of Religion, Långholmens Wärdshus, Stockholm.
September 18, 2019
Placebo Lecture at the Center for Eating Disorders
Karin Jensen gave a talk about placebo effects for staff, and the general public, at the Center for Eating Disorders, Wollmar Yxkullsgatan, Stockholm.
September 7, 2019
A delegation at the EFIC congress
Jens Fust, Maria Lalouni, Moa Pontén and Silvia Fanton at the European Congress for Pain in Valencia, Spain.
August 14, 2019
New publication on the role of conscious awareness in pain perception
Our sleep and pain study has been accepted for publication in Scientific Reports! The study includes sleeping participants who were exposed to pain, and then tested for pain after they woke up. A very stimulating but difficult experiment, performed in collaboration with sleep professor John Axelsson (Stockholm University/KI) and Paolo D’Onofrio (senior researcher at Stockholm University).
Ponten M, Fust J, D’Onofrio P, van Dorp R, Sunnergård L, Ingre M, Axelsson J, Jensen K. The pain alarm response - an example of how conscious awareness shapes pain perception. Scientific Reports, In Press, 2019.
Image by: John Townsend
July 7 - 9, 2019
Presentations at the SIPS International Placebo Conference in Leiden
Karin Jensen (PI), Moa Pontén (PhD Candidate) and Alexander Stridh (MD student) gave oral presentations at the SIPS Conference in Leiden, July 7-9 2019. Karin talked about placebo effects in surgery, Moa about the role of opioids in conditioned pain and Alexander about placebo effects in the use of Viagra and other PDE5I drugs.
Image by: Aleksandrina Skvorts
June 22, 2019
New publication on the doctor-patient relationship
A new paper that explores the neural activations of medical doctors while they treat patients has been accepted for publication in Translational Psychiatry. The title is: “Reward and Empathy in the treating clinician: The neural correlates of successful doctor-patient interactions”, and the authors are: Jensen KB, Gollub RL, Kong J, Lamm C, Kaptchuk TJ, Petrovic P. The image is taken from the first publication from 2014 (Jensen et al, Molecular Psychiatry, 2014).
June 16 - 20, 2019
ISPP Placebo Symposium at the Paediatric Pain Conference in Basel
Karin Jensen gave a talk at a placebo symposium at the 12th International Symposium on Paediatric Pain in Basel, Switzerland. The symposium was titled: Placebo effects in children: sensory perception, executive function and potential applications in the clinical setting. Speakers were: Tim Oberlander (Canada), Regula Neuenschwander (Schweiz) and Ella Weik (Canada).