White Lab

Under the direction of Fletcher White, MS, PhD, professor of Vergil K. Stoelting Chair of Anesthesia, the White Lab is located at the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute. Research in this lab focuses on the mechanistic development and chronicity of pain due to traumatic brain injury (TBI), peripheral nerve injury, polytrauma, chemotherapeutics and disease.

Treatments and therapeutic techniques that can be used to influence these mechanisms are in development and may have a positive impact on the lives of patients. An expert in neuroinflammation, White encourages researchers to apply immunology theory and principles of neuroscience to create translational therapies for clinical implementation.

Active Clinical Trials

The White Lab is conducting a clinical trial on the Role of Deficient Modulatory Systems in Chronic Post-Traumatic Headache after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. In order to participate, individuals must be seen by an emergency medicine physician and/or staff at a trial-affiliated hospital, including IU Health Methodist, Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, and St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis.

Research Updates

To stay current on the medical research work at IU School of Medicine, follow the IU School of Medicine research blog, where investigators throughout the school’s academic departments post updates about their work.

Blog

  • Clinical Trial Participant Requirements
    • 18 – 59 years of age
    • Resident of Indianapolis and its surrounding communities
    • Diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury as defined by the following:
    • Criteria recommended by the World Health Organization Task Force30: 1) Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score 13 – 15 when examined at an emergency medicine department listed above; 2) no abnormal findings on a computed tomography scan of the brain to exclude secondary disorders such as hematoma, cerebral vein thrombosis, cerebral hemorrhage or epilepsy; and 3) one or more of the following is present: confusion or disorientation, post-traumatic amnesia for < 24 hours, or loss of consciousness for > 30 minutes
  • Participant Exclusion Criteria
    • Manifestations of mild TBI must not be due to drugs, alcohol, medications, caused by other injuries or treatment for other injuries, caused by other issues such as psychological trauma or a coexisting medical condition, or caused by penetrating craniocerebral injury
    • Chronic cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, or renal disease
    • Neurological disease (i.e. Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy)
    • Serious psychiatric conditions (i.e. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) or hospitalization within the preceding year for psychiatric illness
    • Chronic headaches prior to the head injury
    • No current involvement in litigation
    • Chronic opioid use
    • Current use of narcotics
    • Uncontrolled hypertension (or receiving treatment for hypertension with blood pressure greater than 150/99)

Publications

  • 2017
    Enhancing excitatory activity of somatosensory cortex alleviates neuropathic pain through regulating homeostatic plasticity. Xiong W, Ping X, Ripsch MS, Chavez GSC, Hannon HE, Jiang K, Bao C, Jadhav V, Chen L, Chai Z, Ma C, Wu H, Feng J, Blesch A, White FA*, Jin X*. (*Co-Senior Authors) Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 6;7(1):12743. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-12972-6. PMID:28986567

    Electroacupuncture Promotes Central Nervous System-Dependent Release of Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Salazar TE, Richardson MR, Beli E, Ripsch MS, George J, Kim Y, Duan Y, Moldovan L, Yan Y, Bhatwadekar A, Jadhav V, Smith JA, McGorray S, Bertone AL, Traktuev DO, March KL, Colon-Perez LM, Avin KG, Sims E, Mund JA, Case J, Deng X, Kim MS, McDavitt B, Boulton ME, Thinschmidt J, Li Calzi S, Fitz SD, Fuchs RK, Warden SJ, McKinley T, Shekhar A, Febo M, Johnson PL, Chang LJ, Gao Z, Kolonin MG, Lai S, Ma J, Dong X, White FA*, Xie H*, Yoder MC*, Grant MB*. (*Co-Senior Authors) Stem Cells. 2017 May;35(5):1303-1315. doi: 10.1002/stem.2613. PMID: 28299842

    Bone Pain Induced by Multiple Myeloma Is Reduced by Targeting V-ATPase and ASIC3. Hiasa M, Okui T, Allette YM, Ripsch M, Sun-Wada G, Wakabayashi H, Roodman GD, White FA, Yoneda T. Cancer Res. 2017 Mar 15;77(6):1283-1295. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-3545. Epub 2017 Mar 2. PMID:28254863

  • 2016
    Decoy peptide targeted to Toll-IL-1R domain inhibits LPS and TLR4-active metabolite morphine-3 glucuronide sensitization of sensory neurons. Allette YM, Kim Y, Randolph AL, Smith JA, Ripsch MS, White FA. Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 16;7(1):3741. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-03447-9. PMID:28623271

    Impact of Opioid and Nonopioid Drugs on Postsurgical Pain Management in the Rat. Wilson NM, Ripsch MS, White FA. Pain Res Treat. 2016;2016:8364762. doi: 10.1155/2016/8364762. Epub 2016 Mar 16. PMID:27069684

Investigators

39072-Iyengar, Smriti

Smriti Iyengar, PhD

Adjunct Senior Research Professor of Anesthesia

Hyun Kang, PhD, BMED, PhD

Adjunct Assistant Scientist in Anesthesia