Research in the lab is centered around understanding how cognitive processes influence pain perception by recruiting endogenous opioid signaling throughout the brain. Although functional imaging studies in humans implicate multiple brain structures in expectation-driven pain relief, due to a lack of mechanistic studies in model organisms, current models of top-down pain modulation are based almost entirely on correlative data. Currently, our primary goals are to delineate the neural pathways that support placebo analgesia, decipher their computational roles, and uncover the function of opioid neuropeptide signaling in the underlying circuits. Ultimately, we hope to leverage this information to develop novel behavioral and pharmacological therapies for pain.