Bruce Bean
Professor Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School
Bruce Bean is Robert Winthrop Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Bean graduated from Harvard College, received a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Rochester, did postdoctoral work with Richard W. Tsien at the Yale School of Medicine, and has previously held faculty positions at the University of Iowa and the Vollum Institute of Oregon Health Sciences University. His research interests are in the electrophysiology of neurons and muscle and in using ion channels to develop new therapeutic treatments
Seminars
Nav1.8, Nav1.7, and Kv7, are central to pain signalling and represent promising targets for novel therapeutics. With emerging evidence indicating that concurrent modulation of these channels may produce advanced analgesic effects, offering therapeutic advantages over single-channel blockade. This workshop will explore how integrated in vitro and in vivo approaches, combined with the development of elective compounds, can accelerate progress from discovery to clinical application.
Key Questions Addressed:
- How do Nav1.7, Nav1.8, and Kv7 channels individually and collectively shape pain pathways, and how does combined modulation alter neuronal excitability? Can biomarkers track multichannel engagement in vivo?
- How can integrated in vitro and in vivo platforms improve preclinical translation?
- What safety risks arise from co-modulating sodium and potassium channels, and how can they be mitigated?
- How can hybrid-selective compounds’ challenges be addressed with integrated platform approaches?
- Can these strategies speed the discovery and clinical translation of pain therapeutics?
