Shafaq Sikandar

Dr Shafaq Sikandar is a senior lecturer at the William Harvey Research Institute and group leader of the Sensory Neurophysiology lab. Her research training was based on rodent and human models to study the neurophysiology of pain. Shafaq’s PhD training was in the Pharmacology department in University College London, and she continued postdoctoral training in the Anaesthesiology department of University of California San Diego and in the Wolfson Institute of Biomedical Research in UCL. In 2018 she was awarded a Versus Arthritis fellowship and appointed lecturer in sensory biology in the Centre for Experimental Medicine & Rheumatology.

The Sensory Neurophysiology lab researches neuronal mechanisms underlying the transition from acute to chronic pain, with a focus on musculoskeletal pain and neuro-immune interactions. We use in vivo approaches in mouse models of pain (behaviour, electrophysiology) in combination with molecular biology. Clinical studies are focussed on patients with early arthritis and post-surgical pain.

Shafaq teaches on BSc modules Repair & regeneration (BMD361) / Disconnected pathways (ICM6013) and is the WHRI lead for Equality Diversity & Inclusion.