Dr Maya Dannawi
College Research Associate
Research interestsI am currently a Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pharmacology, working
on a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award project, ENDASCOP. As a neuroscientist
specializing in pain, my current research centres on the neural mechanisms of chronic
pain, with a particular focus on osteoarthritic (OA) pain. The project aims to elucidate
the role of distinct knee-innervating afferent neuronal subpopulations in the
development and maintenance of OA pain, as well as to map the spinal circuits these
afferents innervate under both normal and pathological conditions.
I obtained my PhD in 2024, supported by an FNRS scholarship at Université Libre de
Bruxelles and an FWA scholarship during my time as a visiting PhD student at the
University of Cambridge. My doctoral research focused on PRDM12, a transcriptional
regulator associated with congenital insensitivity to pain. I explored PRDM12’s role in
the development and signaling of nociceptors (pain-sensing neurons), with the goal of
advancing our understanding of pain pathways and offering new opportunities for
therapeutic interventions.
Additionally, I hold an MSc in Physiology from the American University of Beirut, where
my thesis explored the mechanistic pathways of intermittent fasting and its impact on
prediabetes-induced neuropathy, proposing a novel mechanism involved in its
pathogenesis and complications.
on a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award project, ENDASCOP. As a neuroscientist
specializing in pain, my current research centres on the neural mechanisms of chronic
pain, with a particular focus on osteoarthritic (OA) pain. The project aims to elucidate
the role of distinct knee-innervating afferent neuronal subpopulations in the
development and maintenance of OA pain, as well as to map the spinal circuits these
afferents innervate under both normal and pathological conditions.
I obtained my PhD in 2024, supported by an FNRS scholarship at Université Libre de
Bruxelles and an FWA scholarship during my time as a visiting PhD student at the
University of Cambridge. My doctoral research focused on PRDM12, a transcriptional
regulator associated with congenital insensitivity to pain. I explored PRDM12’s role in
the development and signaling of nociceptors (pain-sensing neurons), with the goal of
advancing our understanding of pain pathways and offering new opportunities for
therapeutic interventions.
Additionally, I hold an MSc in Physiology from the American University of Beirut, where
my thesis explored the mechanistic pathways of intermittent fasting and its impact on
prediabetes-induced neuropathy, proposing a novel mechanism involved in its
pathogenesis and complications.