50 Remarkable Alumni: Targeting and treating pain is Mike Hildebrand’s life’s work

There’s no doubt about it: life can be a pain. For some, who have to live with chronic pain for years or even decades, that’s no joke.

Dr. Mike Hildebrand (BSc ’01) has dedicated his career to finding ways to address pain. Mike, who got his start as a Bachelor of Science student at the University of the Fraser Valley, heads the Hildebrand Laboratory at Carleton University in Ottawa.

He and his colleagues study the role of the spinal cord in the transmission of pain sensation and consider potential for new treatments for pain; they’re trying to understand how pain signals travel from an injury site to the brain via the spinal cord, and why some pain persists long after an injury heals.

“Our focus is investigating the underlying physiology of the human spinal cord,” says Hildebrand.

Working with partners from the Ottawa Hospital, Eli Lilly and Company, and others, Mike and his team want to examine spinal cord tissue from recently deceased donors and use

that tissue to investigate what’s happening at a molecular and cellular level when we experience pain.

“A key piece of that puzzle that’s missing is figuring out what’s happening to spinal cord circuitry when you activate these pain pathways or when you block them with treatments. This project will help us identify specific molecules and receptors that are potential drug targets.”

Hildebrand and his colleagues have shown for the first time that men and women experience pain in different ways, because neurons in the spinal cord process pain in the different sexes.

Once the molecules that produce pain signals are better understood, new drugs might be able to chemically target areas where pain is being amplified, and the findings might make it possible to create more customized treatments for chronic pain.

“Our hope is that our program will lead to the discovery of pain-producing molecules best suited as potential targets for new chronic pain drugs,” he says.

Mike’s team is using cutting-edge high-definition multi-electrode arrays to enhance their understanding of the mechanisms of pain, with the goal of developing new pre-clinical screening tests for pain therapies using human tissue.

“We’ve really seen some big breakthroughs in our research over the past few years,” says Mike. “We’re the only group in Canada doing this kind of research and taking it from discovery to the clinical stage will require a massive funding investment. It will be a global effort. It really does take a scientific village to move research forward.”

While Mike is still involved in supervising the research of his PhD and master’s students, he has also taken on administrative duties at Carleton.

He is Associate Vice Provost (Graduate Student Affairs), and in this role he mentors students from a variety of disciplines.

“It’s been a cool way to move outside the silo of neuroscience and learn about the needs of graduate students across our campus,” he notes. “I am learning a lot.”

And he’s inspired by the mentors he had at UFV in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“Getting involved in research at UFV really changed the trajectory of my career,” he recalls. “My mentors Noham Weinberg and Tony Stea instilled in me a people-first philosophy that I have carried forward. They really saw the value of investing in students. Even after my time at UFV, Tony’s advice during a research crisis stopped me from dropping out of my PhD.”

He encourages UFV students of today to seek out mentors.

“Talk to your professors and seek opportunities. As you get to know them, they will invest in you.”

Mike is honoured to have been chosen as one of 50 Remarkable Alumni at UFV and is looking forward to returning to UFV for a guest lecture on April 5 for the UFV 50 Alumni & Friends Weekend.

“I’m grateful to receive this recognition. I really valued my time at UFV.”

Help celebrate the 50 Remarkable Alumni in person. The UFV 50 Remarkable Alumni Reception will celebrate this year’s incredible recipients on Friday, April 4 at 5:30 pm at UFV Abbotsford. As part of Alumni and Friends Weekend, it’s a chance to reconnect with old friends, create new memories, and toast to the legacy of UFV. Tickets for the reception are available here.