EPIONE programme launches annual retreat series in Oxford

Researchers from across the UK came together at Cosener's House in Abingdon on 25–26 June for the first annual retreat of the EPIONE programme, a major Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) funded initiative developing new engineering-based approaches to treat chronic pain following stroke.

The 24-hour event brought together principal investigators, early career researchers and students from the University of Oxford, University of Glasgow, University of Cambridge and University College London, providing an opportunity to share progress, strengthen collaborations and explore new directions for the programme.

EPIONE (Effective Pain Interventions with Neural Engineering) is developing a new generation of therapeutic technologies designed to address chronic pain by directly modulating information processing in the brain. The programme combines expertise in engineering, neuroscience and clinical research with lived-experience perspectives to develop more effective and personalised interventions for patients affected by post-stroke pain.

The research adopts a control systems approach, integrating sensing technologies, advanced data analytics and a range of interventions that can influence brain activity.

These include invasive techniques such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), alongside non-invasive approaches including transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) and neurofeedback. The programme aims to create adaptive systems capable of targeting pain networks more precisely and effectively than existing treatments.

A key focus of the retreat was identifying opportunities for collaboration across the programme's different work packages. Through presentations, workshops and discussions, researchers explored how diverse datasets, methodologies and technological approaches could be integrated to accelerate progress towards clinical impact. Dr Michaela McAssey of the University of Glasgow, said:

"Bringing everyone together in person was incredibly motivating. It was exciting to see how the different strands of research fit together and where we can combine our expertise to answer bigger questions than any one project could address alone. The discussions generated new ideas, highlighted opportunities to integrate different types of data and methodologies, and reinforced the importance of keeping the experiences of people living with chronic pain central to our research."

Researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering play a leading role within the programme. Dr Victoria Marks, from the IBME's Brain Engineering Laboratory and a key contributor to Work Package 1, is investigating adaptive deep brain stimulation strategies for chronic pain therapy. On the retreat, Dr Marks said:

"There is no perfect way, yet, to measure pain, but this group's cumulative understanding of the key factors of pain variability provided a pathway for better pain assessment in our clinical trial. Methods developed at this retreat will ensure we record and act on the most useful data for the project without adding undue burden to our participants."

Dr. Keonghwan Oh from the IBME's BioElectronics Lab is the primary researcher for Work Package 2 (under Associate Professor Christopher Proctor), which focuses on developing a microfluidic probe to deliver drugs for chronic pain treatment using a closed-loop system. Reflecting on the event, he shared:

"The retreat was a great opportunity to demonstrate our microfluidic probe. Interacting with the EPIONE group helped us find the right direction to integrate a closed-loop system into our device for chronic pain treatment. The insightful suggestions and valuable feedback we received have provided clear guidelines for further advancing our drug delivery device."

The retreat marks the first of six annual gatherings planned throughout the lifetime of the programme, helping to build a strong interdisciplinary community focused on developing transformative technologies for people living with chronic pain after stroke.

Find out more about EPIONE: https://eng.ox.ac.uk/epione