The 2026 CAPToR Symposium brought together investigators, clinicians, engineers, veterinarians, and trainees for a full day of scientific exchange dedicated to accelerating non‑addictive pain therapeutic development. Through four thematically distinct sessions featuring national experts in pain mechanisms, neuroimmune signaling, translational modeling, and clinical innovation, the event highlighted CAPToR’s growing role as a leading hub for preclinical and translational pain research.
Held on Friday, March 13, 2026, in the Clinical and Translational Research Building (CTRB), the Second Annual CAPToR Symposium welcomed approximately 60 attendees from across UF’s Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, and Engineering, as well as collaborators from UF PRICE and biomedical engineering. The program opened with remarks from Dr. Rajesh Khanna, CAPToR Director, who introduced the Center’s mission and delivered his presentation, Decoding a Molecular QR Code for Pain: From Mechanism to Therapeutic Translation. This introduction set the tone for a full day of talks that highlighted CAPToR’s expanding institutional reach and its foundational commitment to promoting mechanistic discovery, interdisciplinary collaboration, and translational pathways for innovative pain therapeutics.
Throughout the morning, invited speakers examined the future of pain discovery across experimental models and human tissue platforms. Presentations from leaders such as Jeffrey Mogil, Kathleen Sluka, and Theodore Price offered perspectives on strengthening preclinical rigor, bridging mechanistic and clinical insights, and leveraging human‑derived tissue studies to better understand neuropathic pain. Conversations continued into late morning with lectures by Geoffroy Laumet and Michael Caterina, who discussed neuroimmune mechanisms and the promise of synthetic biology for designing next‑generation pain interventions.
In the afternoon, the symposium shifted toward biological stress responses, developmental influences on pain sensitivity, and circuitry‑level insights into the chronification of pain. Talks by Edgar Alfonso Romero‑Sandoval, Vinicio Granados Soto, and Yarimar Carrasquillo emphasized how cellular stress, maternal immune activation, and amygdala signaling contribute to maladaptive pain states and may guide new therapeutic strategies. Later presentations by Ludovica Chiavaccini, Rene Przkora, and Tyler Nelson broadened the translational focus, integrating veterinary pain modeling, clinical interventional approaches, and mechanistically targeted modulation of NaV1.7 for Parkinson’s disease‑associated pain. These discussions highlighted expanding opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration among invited faculty, Dr. Khanna, and UF researchers across multiple colleges.
Following the final presentation, attendees gathered for a reception and poster session, during which trainees and research teams presented their work and engaged in cross‑disciplinary dialogue. Poster awards were announced at the conclusion of the event and will be featured separately. The success of the symposium was made possible through support from the McKnight Brain Institute and the UF College of Medicine, whose partnership reinforces CAPToR’s mission to shape the future of pain research and strengthen UF’s leadership in therapeutic innovation.
