Richard Ambron, PhD

Richard Ambron is professor of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University Medical Center. He received his BS from Villanova University in biology, his PhD in biochemistry at Temple University, and completed post-doctoral training in neurobiology at the NYU School of Medicine.

Dr Ambron's principal research theme is to characterize the molecular pathways responsible for the development of chronic pain following nerve injury and inflammation.

Recently Dr Ambron's lab has found that protein kinase G (PKG) is activated by nerve injury and that the essential elements of the pathway are well conserved. Moreover, PKG in rats is also activated in response to an inflammation. This is highly significant because many types of chronic pain are linked to the release of inflammatory agents that activate nociceptive neurons. Finally, Dr Ambron's team has evidence that blocking the activation of PKG can ameliorate pain due to inflammation. Their studies are now directed at identifying the mRNAs that are induced by PKG and to developing effective drugs that can inhibit its activity.