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Michael Caterina

Michael Caterina, MD, PhD

Johns Hopkins Affiliations:
  • Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

Languages

  • English

Gender

Male

About Michael Caterina

Professional Titles

  • Solomon H. Snyder Professor of Neurosurgery
  • Director, Neurosurgery Pain Research Institute
  • Interim Director, Department of Biological Chemistry

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Neurological Surgery

Background

Michael Caterina, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of neurosurgery, biological chemistry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is a sensory neurobiologist with a focus on the molecular basis of pain sensation.

Dr. Caterina and his colleagues discovered the first heat-gated ion channel — the capsaicin receptor TRPV1 — and demonstrated that this protein is critical for the detection of painfully hot temperatures and for the augmented sensitivity to heat pain that follows tissue inflammation.

He is the inaugural director of the Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery Pain Research Institute and the interim director of the Department of Biological Chemistry.

Current topics of interest in his lab at Johns Hopkins include mechanisms underlying pain in hereditary skin diseases, cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuropathic pain and contributions of transient receptor potential channels to pain.

Dr. Caterina earned his bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University, and then M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, and joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1999.

Dr. Caterina’s work has been recognized with national and international awards, including the Patrick D. Wall Young Investigator Award from the International Association for the Study of Pain in 2005 and the Donlin M. Long Pain Service Award from the Johns Hopkins Blaustein Treatment Center pain research program in 2013.

Centers and Institutes

CV

http://neuroscience.jhu.edu/uploads/publications/Caterina_M/CV_Caterina_4-16-08_for_neuroscience.pdf

Videos

Recent News Articles and Media Coverage

Additional Academic Titles

Professor of Neuroscience, Professor of Biological Chemistry

Contact for Research Inquiries

725 North Wolfe St.
Biophysics 408
Baltimore, MD 21205

Phone: (410) 502-5457

Research Interests

TRP channel function in thermosensation, pain and inflammation

Lab Website

Michael Caterina Lab

  • The Caterina lab is focused on dissecting mechanisms underlying acute and chronic pain sensation. We use a wide range of approaches, including mouse genetics, imaging, electrophysiology, behavior, cell culture, biochemistry and neuroanatomy to tease apart the molecular and cellular contributors to pathological pain sensation. A few of the current projects in the lab focus on defining the roles of specific subpopulations of neuronal and non-neuronal cells to pain sensation, defining the role of RNA binding proteins in the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain, and understanding how rare skin diseases known as palmoplantar keratodermas lead to severe pain in the hands and feet.

Research Summary

Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Pain Sensation

Dr. Caterina and his team focus on dissecting mechanisms that underlie acute and pathological pain sensation. One topic of study is the identification of mechanisms underlying pain in a diverse collection of rare hereditary skin conditions known as palmoplantar keratodermas. These conditions, characterized by epidermal thickening on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, exhibit variable prevalence of pain that can significantly impact quality of life. Another area of focus is the role of RNA binding proteins as regulators of the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. A third effort involves defining the diversity of neuronal and nonneuronal cell types that contribute to the development and manifestation of neuropathic pain. Finally, the lab studies the biological functions of a group of heat-gated ion channel proteins in the transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) family, particularly as they relate to pain. These projects involve a wide array of technological approaches that include behavioral assays, in vitro and in vivo imaging and electrophysiology, neuroanatomical studies, and molecular analysis of sensory neurons and skin.

PubMed

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=michael+caterina

Selected Publications

Honors

  • John J. Bonica Award, Eastern Pain Association, 10/1/19
  • Louisville Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, Plenary Speaker, 1/1/17
  • Julius B. Kahn Lectureship Guest Speaker, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, 1/1/15
  • Inaugural Solomon H. Snyder Professor of Neurosurgery, 1/1/14
  • Donlin M. Long Pain Service Award, Blaustein Pain Treatment Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1/1/13
  • Professor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1/1/08
  • Patrick D. Wall Young Investigator Award, International Association for the Study of Pain, 1/1/05
  • Freedman Award Honorable Mention, NARSAD, 1/1/01
  • Searle Scholars Program, 1/1/01
  • Beckman Young Investigator, 1/1/01
  • Distinguished Young Scholar in Medical Research, W. M. Keck Foundation, 1/1/01
  • Keith Killam Memorial Award in Receptor Pharmacology, Western Pharmacology Society, 1/1/00
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Cancer Society, 1/1/96
  • Young Investigator Award, National Alliance For Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, 1/1/96
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, U.C.S.F. Cardiovascular Research Institute, 1/1/95
  • Medical Honor Society, Alpha Omega Alpha, 1/1/95
  • Medical Student Award, Gate Pharmaceuticals, 1/1/95
  • McGraw Hill Publishing Medical Student Award, 1/1/88
  • Lange Publishing Medical Student Award, 1/1/88
  • Franklin Paine Mall Award in Anatomy and Cell Biology, 1/1/88
  • Evan Pugh Scholar, The Pennsylvania State University, 1/1/87
  • Medical Scientist Training Program Grant, NIH, 1/1/87

Lectures & Presentations

  • NULL, American Pain Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 10/1/00
  • NULL, American Pain Society Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 11/1/98
  • NULL, As Assistant Professor Pulmonary Research Service, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 2/1/00
  • NULL, Blaustein Pain Research Center, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 2/1/00
  • NULL, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 4/1/00
  • NULL, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 11/1/00
  • NULL, Duke University Department of Cell Biology, Durham, NC, 1/1/99
  • NULL, European Neuroscience Association Satellite Meeting on Peripheral Mechanisms of Pain Sensation, Berlin, Germany, 7/1/98
  • NULL, Harvard Medical School Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Boston, MA, 1/1/99
  • NULL, Harvard University Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Cambridge, MA, 1/1/99
  • NULL, Ion channels in Nociception Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 1/1/99
  • NULL, Japanese Biochemical Society Annual Meeting, Nagoya, Japan, 10/1/98
  • NULL, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Department of Biological Chemistry, Baltimore, MD, 1/1/99
  • NULL, Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ, 7/1/00
  • NULL, Ohio State University Department of Neuroscience, Columbus, OH, 1/1/99
  • NULL, Spring Pain Research Conference, Cayman Islands, 5/1/00
  • NULL, University of Chicago Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences, Chicago, IL, 1/1/99
  • NULL, University of Wisconsin Department of Physiology, Madison, WI, 1/1/99

Graduate Program Affiliations

  • Graduate Program in Biological Chemistry

    Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

    Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine

    Graduate Program in Neuroscience

    Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Memberships

  • Society for Neuroscience, Member
  • International Association for the Study of Pain,

    Member

Professional Activities

  • Center for Sensory Biology, Member, 1/1/06
  • Department of Biological Chemistry, Interim Director, 1/1/18
  • Graduate Program in Biological Chemistry, Co-Director, 1/1/03 - 1/1/13
  • Graduate Program in Biological Chemistry, Admissions Committee, 1/1/00 - 1/1/13
  • Graduate Program in Biological Chemistry, Admissions Committee, 1/1/17
  • Hydra Biosciences, Scientific Advisory Board, 1/1/05 - 1/1/15
  • Journal of Neuroscience, Associate Editor, 1/1/07 - 1/1/12
  • M.D. Ph.D. Program, Admissions Committee, 1/1/04 - 1/1/13
  • Molecular Pain, Deputy Editor, 1/1/05 - 1/1/18
  • Neurobiology of Pain, Editorial Board, 1/1/16
  • Neurosurgery Pain Research Institute, Director, 1/1/13
  • Professorial Promotions Committee, Member, 1/1/13 - 1/1/18
  • Thompson Family Foundation Initiative, Advisory Board, 1/1/17

Additional Training

University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 1999, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology

Expertise

Education

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Ph.D., 1995

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

M.D., 1995