Institute for Translational Neuroscience News and Events

Olivia Vanegas, Ph.D., joined Daniela Salvemini’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow in February 2025. She has a diverse research background spanning human health psychology and preclinical rodent models, with a focus on behavioral neuroscience, pharmacology and pain research. She received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky (2018) and a Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience from the University of Connecticut (2024). Her dissertation project investigated the analgesic potential of minor phytocannabinoids in mouse models of chronic neuropathic pain and inflammation. Her research interests include in vivo pharmacology, neuroimmune mechanisms of pain, and preclinical pain assessment, with the overarching goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets for chronic pain.

Saint Louis University

Tenure-Track Assistant/Associate Professor
Department of Pharmacology & Physiology

The Saint Louis University Department of Pharmacology & Physiology invites visionary investigators to join our collaborative and dynamic team at the Assistant/Associate Professor level within the tenure track to drive innovation in pain research and pharmacology. This recruitment is part of an ambitious initiative to strengthen and expand pain research at Saint Louis University, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and groundbreaking discoveries. Successful candidates will benefit from generous research startup packages, access to state-of-the-art facilities, and an interdisciplinary network within and beyond Saint Louis University. Successful candidates will additionally benefit from opportunities to join collaborative centers including the Institute for Translational Neuroscience, Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation, the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, the Vaccine Center and the Liver Center. Each center and institute provide additional logistic, funding opportunities, material and shared resources to enhance the success of our faculty. Members of our community have access to the nationally acclaimed Cortex Innovation Community, to multiple local startup-supporting institutions and to the fast-growing, cutting-edge medical and biotechnology community which operates actively throughout the St. Louis region.

Qualifications and Responsibilities

Candidates should hold a PhD or MD/PhD degree, a minimum of two years of postdoctoral studies, and a strong publication record. We are particularly interested in researchers working in the areas of: neuroimmunology, lipid metabolism, neural circuits and behavior; molecular and cellular neuroscience; and neurogenetics with a focus on identifying and developing novel therapeutic opportunities for chronic pain. Candidates involved in related disciplines with a focus on pain, such as addiction, drug discovery, structural biology and chemical biology are strongly encouraged to apply. Candidates will be expected to develop an innovative, extramurally funded research program, participate in the educational mission of the Department, and engage in University service.

Saint Louis University School of Medicine is a Catholic Jesuit Institution with a long tradition of excellence in teaching, research and patient care. Established in 1836, the school was the first to award a medical degree west of the Mississippi River. Saint Louis University School of Medicine is a leading center of research in neurodegenerative disorders, pain, cancer, infectious disease, liver disease, aging, and heart/lung disease. The Department of Pharmacology and Physiology maintains a strong record of extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including a T32 training grant.

Questions related to this position can be sent to Dr. Daniela Salvemini, William Beaumont Professor and Chair and Director, Institute for Translational Neuroscience (daniela.salvemini@health.slu.edu).

Applications must include: 1) a cover letter; 2) a resume/curriculum vitae 3) statement of current research and goals; 4) statement of teaching philosophy and 5) contact details for references from at least 3 colleagues. You can upload these items on the third page "My experience" of the application. The requisition numbers are 07662 and 08592

Do you want to join a committee, contact a member of our committees, or have a question on how to be more involved with all things ITN? Check out our line up below-

• Executive Leadership Team:
  • Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D. (chair)
    • Silviya Zustiak, Ph.D. (associate chair)
    • George Grossberg, M.D.
    • Rick Samson, Ph.D.
    • Tony Buschanan, Ph.D.
    • Jafar Kafaie, M.D., Ph.D.
• Research Committee:
  • Susan Farr, Ph.D. (chair)
    • Aubin Moutal, Ph.D. (co-chair)
    • Philippe Mercier, M.D., Ph.D.
    • John Walker, Ph.D.
    • Fenglian Xu, Ph.D.
    • Yuna Ayala, Ph.D.
• Education and Student-Postdoctoral:
  • Mark Knuepfer, Ph.D. (chair)
    • Tim Doyle, Ph.D.
  • Stephanie Michalski, Ph.D. (chair)

Vincenza Cifarelli, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology has been awarded a President Research Fund (PRF) of $50,000.00. The grant titled, "Determining the role of a novel E3 ligase Ube4A in intestinal function and IBD" will allow Cifarelli along with Anutosh Chakraborty, Ph.D., associate professor also in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, to decipher mechanisms by which the Ube4A protein regulates intestinal function and disease. The project will utilize new mouse models and various cutting-edge tools to define novel mechanisms that cause intestinal diseases and may offer new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and colitis.

Juliana Navia Pelaez, Ph.D. joined the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, on Feb. 1, 2024, as assistant professor (TT). Navia Pelaez completed her graduate studies in vascular biology at UFMG, Brazil, focusing on cellular responses to oxidized lipids. Subsequently, she pursued postdoctoral training in pain and metabolism at the University of California, San Diego, under the dual mentorship of Tony Yaksh (vice chair for research in anesthesiology and Distinguished Professor in Anesthesiology and Pharmacology) and Yury Miller (M.D., Ph.D.; professor of medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism). As a postdoc, her findings, which revealed increased lipid rafts and intracellular lipid storage in microglia and neurons, contributed to the growing knowledge linking dysregulated lipid metabolism to hypersensitivity and pain states. Now, she is set to lead a new laboratory at SLU in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, dedicated to understanding how lipid metabolism influences pain states and susceptibility to chronic pain. Her research will primarily investigate immuno-metabolic changes and the related transcriptional regulation underlying chronic pain development. Leveraging diverse animal models of chronic pain and advanced omics and biochemistry tools, her lab will explore neuroimmune interactions, cellular reprogramming, and metabolic shifts across various cell types involved in nociceptive pathways, particularly macrophages and microglia. The lab aims to discover early pain biomarkers and uncover new pathways and potential therapeutic targets for treating various chronic pain conditions.

The SLU Research Institute has produced a new video promoting ITN. If this one slipped by you, take some time to check it out and share with your friends, colleagues and social networks.

Saint Louis University pain researcher Dr. Daniela Salvemini joins Fox 2 News to discuss “chemo brain.”