
Dr Robert Drake
BSc(Lond.), MSc(Lond.), PhD
Expertise
Neurobiologist studying how cortical circuits enable adaptation to body states and the environment, and how disrupted adaptation contributes to chronic pain and mental health disorders.
Current positions
Research Fellow
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I’m a neurobiologist interested in the brain mechanisms that make some individuals more likely to developing chronic pain and mental health disorders. My work focuses on how cortical areas regulate sensory processing and behaviour, enabling adaptation to changing environments and physiological states. More recently, my research has shifted toward interoceptive systems — how the brain senses and regulates the body’s internal state — rather than purely exteroceptive pathways.
I study chronic pain because the unmet need is profound. Chronic pain devastates quality of life for patients and carers, and its societal and economic impact is enormous. Current therapies are often inadequate. While decades of research on nociceptive systems have expanded our understanding, they have not yielded effective treatments. I focus on the brain’s “executive control” regions because I believe that a better understanding of how nociceptive, emotional, and cognitive systems interact is essential for identifying new therapeutic targets, refining existing ones, and improving patient stratification for precision treatments.
My expertise spans the nociceptive (pain) system from the bottom up and the top down. I have developed experimental techniques to selectively monitor and manipulate neuronal activity in behaving animals, helping to distinguish cause from effect and to map local and inter-regional circuit mechanisms. This integrative approach allows me to link single-neuron activity to circuit dynamics and ultimately to behaviour. A distinctive strength of my work is the ability to connect ideas across physiology, psychology, and clinical science, designing experiments with improved translational relevance for patients.
I am keen to collaborate with people living with chronic pain and mental health conditions to shape a research agenda that matters to them. I also see great value in working with pharmaceutical companies to translate fundamental neuroscience into therapies, and with digital health innovators who could deliver brain-based or cognitive-based treatments.
If you’re interested in my research or in potential collaboration, please feel free to get in touch.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Cross-Sector Award - Embedding into industrial translational science operations to improve therapies for chronic pain
Principal Investigator
Description
I have been awarded a 12-month industrial placement with Grünenthal, a global leader in pain management, joining the Genetic Medicines Group. My work will focus on nucleic acid therapeutics for…Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/09/2025 to 31/08/2026
Sex, stress & Pain; exploring sex differences in the cortical control of chronic pain
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/11/2022 to 31/10/2025
Identifying psilocybin induced behavioral motifs in rodents
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/07/2022 to 30/06/2023
Drake
Principal Investigator
Description
lotsManaging organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/06/2019 to 31/07/2022
Contributions of prefrontal-midbrain-spinal cord network dynamics to the development and maintenance of chronic neuropathic pain
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Dates
01/12/2016 to 30/11/2019
Publications
Selected publications
08/02/2021Loss of cortical control over the descending pain modulatory system determines the development of the neuropathic pain state in rats
eLife
Periaqueductal Grey EP3 Receptors Facilitate Spinal Nociception in Arthritic Secondary Hypersensitivity
Journal of Neuroscience
Cerebellar modulation of memory encoding in the periaqueductal grey and fear behaviour
eLife
The degree of acute descending control of spinal nociception in an area of primary hyperalgesia is dependent on the peripheral domain of afferent input
Journal of Physiology
The control of alternative splicing by SRSF1 in myelinated afferents contributes to the development of neuropathic pain
Neurobiology of Disease
Recent publications
01/01/2023State of the art of participatory and user-led research in mental health in Brazil: A scoping review
Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health
Cerebellar modulation of memory encoding in the periaqueductal grey and fear behaviour
eLife
Pro-opiomelanocortin neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract mediate endorphinergic endogenous analgesia in mice
Pain
Loss of cortical control over the descending pain modulatory system determines the development of the neuropathic pain state in rats
eLife
Periaqueductal Grey EP3 Receptors Facilitate Spinal Nociception in Arthritic Secondary Hypersensitivity
Journal of Neuroscience