Bradley J Kerr
Adjunct Professor
Education:
BPhD-Neuroscience, University of London-King's College, London UK, 2001
BSc-Psychology, McGill University, 1996
Faculty:
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Adjunct Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Teaching: PMCOL 412, PMCOL 343
Contact Information:
Office: 533 HMRC
(☎) 780.492.3380
bjkerr@ualberta.ca
Awards/Operating Grants:
CIHR Project Grant, MS Canada Discovery Grant
Academic Activities:
My research group employs a variety of behavioural assays to assess pain and nociception. In addition, we also use a variety of behavioral assays to measure cognitive and affective changes that are affected in chronic pain conditions. Our aim is to understand the underlying mechanisms of chronic pain that accompany autoimmune diseases or following traumatic injury to the nervous system.
Research: Mechanisms of chronic pain after CNS injury or disease
Research Interests/Laboratory Techniques
The development of chronic pain after spinal cord injury or in diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) is a major clinical concern. The main focus of research in my laboratory is aimed at addressing the cellular mechanisms that generate neuropathic pain in these conditions. My research uses two primary animal models: a clinically relevant spinal contusion injury model and a mouse model of autoimmune demyelination that resembles MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). My research aims to understand the specific pathways and cellular changes that arise in response to direct trauma or in chronic disease states that may promote the development of neuropathic pain. The lab employs a number of different strategies that include analysis at the cell and molecular levels, as well as systems level approaches to address this complex biological problem.
Selected Recent Publications2. Aislinn D Maguire, Timothy N Friedman, Elyse Willis, Elise Gosse, Grayden Kuypers, Dania Villarreal Andrade, Camille Stephens, Gustavo Tenorio, Jason R Plemel and Bradley J Kerr (2025) Sex-specific involvement of CGRP signaling for pain in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Pain Reports (accepted in press)
3. Brady P. Hammond; Sameera Zia; Eugene Hahn; Margarita Kapustina; Tristan Lange; Sarah Friesen; Rupali Manek; Kelly V. Lee; Adrian Castellanos-Molina; Floriane Bretheau; Mark S Cembrowski; Bradley J. Kerr; Steve Lacroix; Jason Plemel (2025) CSF-1R ligands promote microglial proliferation but are not the sole regulators of developmental microglial proliferation. Development DOI: 10.1242/dev.204610
4. Aislinn D Maguire; Shawn M Lamothe; Muhammad Saad Yousuf; Kree Goss: Jayadeep Rao; Gustavo Tenorio; Sridhar R Kaulagari; Lori Hazlehurst; Jason R Plemel; Anna MW Taylor; Harley T Kurata; Thomas Simmen and Bradley J Kerr (2025) Inhibition of Endoplasmic Reticulum Oxidoreductin 1 modulates neuronal excitability and nociceptive sensitivity in mice. Anesthesiology DOI: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000005453
5. Lamothe SM, Das D, Wong AA, Hao Y, Maguire AD, Kerr BJ, Baronas VA, Kurata HT. Regulation of Kv1.2 Redox-Sensitive Gating by the Transmembrane Lectin LMAN2. Function (Oxf). 2024 Nov 20;5(6):zqae041. doi: 10.1093/function/zqae041. PMID: 39264045; PMCID: PMC11577617.
6. Das D, Wong A, Friedman TN, Kerr BJ, Kurata HT, Lamothe SM. Reducing agents facilitate membrane patch seal integrity and longevity. Channels (Austin). 2024 Dec;18(1):2297621. doi: 10.1080/19336950.2023.2297621. Epub 2023 Dec 28. PMID: 38154061; PMCID: PMC10761044.
7. Timothy N. Friedman, Shawn M. Lamothe, Aislinn D. Maguire, Thomas Hammond, Gustavo Tenorio, Brett J. Hilton, Jason R. Plemel, Harley T. Kurata, and Bradley J Kerr (2024) Plasticity of mouse dorsal root ganglion neurons by innate immune activation is influenced by electrophysiological activity. Journal of Neurochemistry DOI: 10.1111/jnc.16292