Marco Loggia

Last updated
Marco Loggia
Born
Marco Luciano Loggia

January 6, 1979
Vizzolo Predabissi (Milan, Italy)
CitizenshipItalian
Alma mater McGill University, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University
Scientific career
FieldsBrain Imaging, Pain, Neuroscience

Marco Loggia is a US-based Italian neuroscientist who specializes in brain imaging. He is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and directs the Pain and Neuroinflammation Imaging Laboratory, located at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He is also the co-director of the Center of Integrative Pain NeuroImaging (CiPNI) at MGH. [1] He is known for his work on brain mechanisms of pain, especially using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) [2] [3] and positron emission tomography (PET). [4] [5] He has been a pioneer in the use of Arterial Spin Labeling [6] [7] and second-generation TSPO PET ligands for the study of chronic pain. [4] [5] He is a Section Editor for the journal PAIN, and also serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Pain and Pain Medicine. His work has been highlighted by many media outlets, including Popular Science, [8] New Scientist, [9] Scientific American, [10] ABC News, [11] la Repubblica, [12] Sky TG24, [13] the Harvard Gazette [14] and others.

Contents

Biography

Loggia was born in Italy, where he obtained a Laurea (a five-year degree equivalent to a B.Sc. plus a M.Sc.) in Experimental Psychology at the Universita’ Vita-Salute San Raffaele (Milan, Italy). In 2008 he was awarded a Ph.D. in Neurological Sciences by McGill University in Montreal, QC (Canada), under the mentorship of Prof. M. Catherine Bushnell. He then held the position of Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School until 2013, when he became faculty at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. [15]

He and his wife Nazma have three children: Gabriele, Suraiya and Naima.

Awards and recognition

Loggia is a recipient of the 2013 Early Career Award from the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and the 2016 IASP Ulf Lindblom Young Investigator Award for Clinical Science. [16] He is also the principal investigator of several federal and foundation grants, including from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and various foundations. The Harvard Gazette described his work on neuroinflammation in chronic back pain as a "breakthrough on chronic pain." [14] His study of neuroinflammation in fibromyalgia, [5] conducted in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet, was named one of the "Top Ten Cell Science News Stories of 2018" by Technology Networks. [17] In 2021, he was named Distinguished Investigator by the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chronic pain</span> Pain that lasts longer than three months

Chronic pain or chronic pain syndrome is a type of pain that is also known by other titles such as gradual burning pain, electrical pain, throbbing pain, and nauseating pain. This type of pain is sometimes confused with acute pain and can last from three months to several years; Various diagnostic manuals such as DSM-5 and ICD-11 have proposed several definitions of chronic pain, but the accepted definition is that it is "pain that lasts longer than the expected period of recovery."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fatigue</span> Range of afflictions, usually associated with physical or mental weakness

Fatigue describes a state of tiredness, exhaustion or loss of energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fibromyalgia</span> Chronic pain of unknown cause

Fibromyalgia is a medical syndrome which causes chronic widespread pain, accompanied by fatigue, waking unrefreshed, and cognitive symptoms. Other symptoms can include headaches, lower abdominal pain or cramps, and depression. People with fibromyalgia can also experience insomnia and a general hypersensitivity. The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, but is believed to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Environmental factors may include psychological stress, trauma, and certain infections. Since the pain appears to result from processes in the central nervous system, the condition is referred to as a "central sensitization syndrome".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peripheral neuropathy</span> Nervous system disease affecting nerves beyond the brain and spinal cord

Peripheral neuropathy, often shortened to neuropathy, refers to damage or disease affecting the nerves. Damage to nerves may impair sensation, movement, gland function, and/or organ function depending on which nerve fibers are affected. Neuropathies affecting motor, sensory, or autonomic nerve fibers result in different symptoms. More than one type of fiber may be affected simultaneously. Peripheral neuropathy may be acute or chronic, and may be reversible or permanent.

Neuropathic pain is pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. Neuropathic pain may be associated with abnormal sensations called dysesthesia or pain from normally non-painful stimuli (allodynia). It may have continuous and/or episodic (paroxysmal) components. The latter resemble stabbings or electric shocks. Common qualities include burning or coldness, "pins and needles" sensations, numbness and itching.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neuroimmune system</span>

The neuroimmune system is a system of structures and processes involving the biochemical and electrophysiological interactions between the nervous system and immune system which protect neurons from pathogens. It serves to protect neurons against disease by maintaining selectively permeable barriers, mediating neuroinflammation and wound healing in damaged neurons, and mobilizing host defenses against pathogens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FreeSurfer</span> Brain imaging software package

FreeSurfer is brain imaging software originally developed by Bruce Fischl, Anders Dale, Martin Sereno, and Doug Greve. Development and maintenance of FreeSurfer is now the primary responsibility of the Laboratory for Computational Neuroimaging at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. FreeSurfer contains a set of programs with a common focus of analyzing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of brain tissue. It is an important tool in functional brain mapping and contains tools to conduct both volume based and surface based analysis. FreeSurfer includes tools for the reconstruction of topologically correct and geometrically accurate models of both the gray/white and pial surfaces, for measuring cortical thickness, surface area and folding, and for computing inter-subject registration based on the pattern of cortical folds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purinergic receptor</span> Family of cell membrane receptors in almost all tissues

Purinergic receptors, also known as purinoceptors, are a family of plasma membrane molecules that are found in almost all mammalian tissues. Within the field of purinergic signalling, these receptors have been implicated in learning and memory, locomotor and feeding behavior, and sleep. More specifically, they are involved in several cellular functions, including proliferation and migration of neural stem cells, vascular reactivity, apoptosis and cytokine secretion. These functions have not been well characterized and the effect of the extracellular microenvironment on their function is also poorly understood.

Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) describes the off-label, experimental use of the medication naltrexone at low doses for diseases such as Crohn's disease, Hashimoto's disease, and multiple sclerosis, but evidence for recommending such use is lacking.

Clouding of consciousness, also called brain fog or mental fog, occurs when a person is slightly less wakeful or aware than normal. They are less aware of time and their surroundings, and find it difficult to pay attention. People describe this subjective sensation as their mind being "foggy".

Psychogenic pain is physical pain that is caused, increased, or prolonged by mental, emotional, or behavioral factors, without evidence of physical injury or illness.

The Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, usually referred to as just the "Martinos Center," is a major hub of biomedical imaging technology development and translational research. The Center is part of the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and is affiliated with both Harvard University and MIT. Bruce Rosen is the Director of the Center and Monica Langone is the Administrative Director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome</span> Chronic medical condition

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a serious long-term illness. People with ME/CFS experience a profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, sleep issues and problems with memory or concentration. They are able to do much less than before they became ill. Further common symptoms include dizziness, nausea and pain. The hallmark symptom is a worsening of the illness hours to days after minor physical or mental activity. This "crash" can last less than a day to several months.

Neuroinflammation is inflammation of the nervous tissue. It may be initiated in response to a variety of cues, including infection, traumatic brain injury, toxic metabolites, or autoimmunity. In the central nervous system (CNS), including the brain and spinal cord, microglia are the resident innate immune cells that are activated in response to these cues. The CNS is typically an immunologically privileged site because peripheral immune cells are generally blocked by the blood–brain barrier (BBB), a specialized structure composed of astrocytes and endothelial cells. However, circulating peripheral immune cells may surpass a compromised BBB and encounter neurons and glial cells expressing major histocompatibility complex molecules, perpetuating the immune response. Although the response is initiated to protect the central nervous system from the infectious agent, the effect may be toxic and widespread inflammation as well as further migration of leukocytes through the blood–brain barrier may occur.

Chronic relapsing inflammatory optic neuropathy (CRION) is a form of recurrent optic neuritis that is steroid responsive and dependent. Patients typically present with pain associated with visual loss. CRION is a clinical diagnosis of exclusion, and other demyelinating, autoimmune, and systemic causes should be ruled out. An accurate antibody test which became available commercially in 2017 has allowed most patients previously diagnosed with CRION to be re-identified as having MOG antibody disease, which is not a diagnosis of exclusion. Early recognition is crucial given risks for severe visual loss and because it is treatable with immunosuppressive treatment such as steroids or B-cell depleting therapy. Relapse that occurs after reducing or stopping steroids is a characteristic feature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Hooker</span>

Jacob M. Hooker is an American chemist and expert in molecular imaging, particularly in the development and application of simultaneous MRI and PET. He has contributed major advances on the entire spectrum of research from fundamental chemistry methodology with radioisotopes to human neuroimaging.

Vitaly Napadow is a Ukrainian-born American neuroscientist and acupuncturist. He is a full professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Radiology at Harvard Medical School. He is also the Director of the Scott Schoen and Nancy Adams Discovery Center for Recovery from Chronic Pain at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Director of the Center for Integrative Pain NeuroImaging at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a former president of the Society for Acupuncture Research. He has been a pain neuroimaging researcher for more than 20 years. Somatosensory, cognitive, and affective factors all influence the malleable experience of chronic pain, and Dr. Napadow’s Lab has applied human functional and structural neuroimaging to localize and suggest mechanisms by which different brain circuitries modulate pain perception. Dr. Napadow’s neuroimaging research also aims to better understand how non-pharmacological therapies, from acupuncture and transcutaneous neuromodulation to cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness meditation training, ameliorate aversive perceptual states such as pain. In fact, his early career was known for researching acupuncture and its effects on the brain. He has also researched the brain circuitry underlying nausea and itch. He is also known for developing a novel approach in applying measures of resting state brain connectivity as potential biomarkers for spontaneous clinical pain in chronic pain disorders such as fibromyalgia.

Microglia are the primary immune cells of the central nervous system, similar to peripheral macrophages. They respond to pathogens and injury by changing morphology and migrating to the site of infection/injury, where they destroy pathogens and remove damaged cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katerina Akassoglou</span> Greek neuroimmunologist

Katerina Akassoglou is a neuroimmunologist who is a Senior Investigator and Director of In Vivo Imaging Research at the Gladstone Institutes. Akassoglou holds faculty positions as a Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Akassoglou has pioneered investigations of blood-brain barrier integrity and development of neurological diseases. She found that compromised blood-brain barrier integrity leads to fibrinogen leakage into the brain inducing neurodegeneration. Akassoglou is internationally recognized for her scientific discoveries.

Merit Cudkowicz is an American neurologist and neuroscientist who studies amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Cudkowicz is Julieanne Dorn Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, director of the ALS clinic and the Neurological Clinical Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and chair of the Department of Neurology at MGH. Cudkowicz has led several large-scale collaborations and clinical trials to test novel treatments for ALS and as of 2020, researching ways to detect early biomarkers of ALS to improve diagnosis.

References

  1. ↑ "Marco L. Loggia, PhD". loggialab.mgh.harvard.edu.
  2. ↑ Loggia, Marco L.; Kim, Jieun; Gollub, Randy L.; Vangel, Mark G.; Kirsch, Irving; Kong, Jian; Wasan, Ajay D.; Napadow, Vitaly (January 1, 2013). "Default mode network connectivity encodes clinical pain: An arterial spin labeling study". Pain. 154 (1): 24–33. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2012.07.029. PMC   3534957 . PMID   23111164.
  3. ↑ Loggia, Marco L.; Berna, Chantal; Kim, Jieun; Cahalan, Christine M.; Gollub, Randy L.; Wasan, Ajay D.; Harris, Richard E.; Edwards, Robert R.; Napadow, Vitaly (October 4, 2014). "Disrupted Brain Circuitry for Pain-Related Reward/Punishment in Fibromyalgia". Arthritis & Rheumatology. 66 (1): 203–212. doi:10.1002/art.38191. PMC   4516215 . PMID   24449585.
  4. 1 2 Loggia, Marco L.; Chonde, Daniel B.; Akeju, Oluwaseun; Arabasz, Grae; Catana, Ciprian; Edwards, Robert R.; Hill, Elena; Hsu, Shirley; Izquierdo-Garcia, David; Ji, Ru-Rong; Riley, Misha; Wasan, Ajay D.; Zürcher, Nicole R.; Albrecht, Daniel S.; Vangel, Mark G.; Rosen, Bruce R.; Napadow, Vitaly; Hooker, Jacob M. (March 1, 2015). "Evidence for brain glial activation in chronic pain patients". Brain. 138 (3): 604–615. doi:10.1093/brain/awu377. PMC   4339770 . PMID   25582579.
  5. 1 2 3 Albrecht, Daniel S.; Forsberg, Anton; Sandström, Angelica; Bergan, Courtney; Kadetoff, Diana; Protsenko, Ekaterina; Lampa, Jon; Lee, Yvonne C.; Höglund, Caroline Olgart; Catana, Ciprian; Cervenka, Simon; Akeju, Oluwaseun; Lekander, Mats; Cohen, George; Halldin, Christer; Taylor, Norman; Kim, Minhae; Hooker, Jacob M.; Edwards, Robert R.; Napadow, Vitaly; Kosek, Eva; Loggia, Marco L. (January 1, 2019). "Brain glial activation in fibromyalgia – A multi-site positron emission tomography investigation". Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 75: 72–83. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2018.09.018. PMC   6541932 . PMID   30223011.
  6. ↑ Wasan, Ajay D.; Loggia, Marco L.; Chen, Li Q.; Napadow, Vitaly; Kong, Jian; Gollub, Randy L. (August 1, 2011). "Neural Correlates of Chronic Low Back Pain Measured by Arterial Spin Labeling". Anesthesiology. 115 (2): 364–374. doi:10.1097/ALN.0b013e318220e880. PMC   3286828 . PMID   21720241.
  7. ↑ Loggia, Marco Luciano; Segerdahl, Andrew Reilly; Howard, Matthew Alexander; Tracey, Irene (May 15, 2019). "Imaging Clinically Relevant Pain States Using Arterial Spin Labeling". Pain Reports. 4 (4): e750. doi:10.1097/PR9.0000000000000750. PMC   6690842 . PMID   31406952.
  8. ↑ "A New Kind Of Brain Scan Can See Your Pain, Literally". Popular Science. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  9. ↑ "Hurt blocker: To treat chronic pain, look to the brain not body". www.newscientist.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  10. ↑ "Chronic Pain Associated with Activation of Brain's Glial Cells". Scientific American. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  11. ↑ "'Seeing' Lower Back Pain in the Brain". ABC News. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  12. ↑ Aluffi, Giuliano. "il Venerdì' di Repubblica" . Retrieved Oct 4, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Un'infiammazione cerebrale tra le cause della fibromialgia | Sky TG24". tg24.sky.it. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  14. 1 2 "Breakthrough on chronic pain". Harvard Gazette. 2015-01-12. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  15. ↑ "Marco Loggia, Ph.D." loggialab.mgh.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  16. ↑ Andrews, Neil (2016-12-09). "Talking Pain Brain Imaging With Award-Winning Young Investigator Marco Loggia". Pain Research Forum. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  17. ↑ "Top 10 Cell Science News Stories of 2018 | Technology Networks". www.technologynetworks.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  18. ↑ "2021 Distinguished Investigator Awards" (PDF). Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research.
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