Human Migraine Research Unit (HMRU)
Members
- Director: Professor Messoud Ashina, MD, PhD, DMSc, FEAN
- Research Administrator: Kateryna Kolkova, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellows: Casper Christensen, MD, PhD
- PhD Fellows: Andreas Thomsen, Betel Tesfay, Haidar Al-Khazali, Janu Thuraiaiyah, Nadja Rasmussen, Rogelio Dominguez, Rune Christensen, Thien Phu Do, William Karlsson, Zixuan Zhuang
- Research Staff: Anne-Mette Autzen, Marianne Hestad, Susanne Leeds, Tariq Mohammad Amin
Objective
HMRU is an integral part of the Department of Neurology, Danish Headache Center, Copenhagen University Hospital – Rigshospitalet. HMRU seeks to explore the neurobiologic underpinnings of migraine and to identify novel drugs targets. To this end, HMRU perform state-of-the-art human experimental studies, including human provocation modelling and advanced neuroimaging techniques.
Ongoing Research Projects
Ongoing research projects focus on the following topics:
- The role of CGRP signaling in migraine pathogenesis
- The role of PACAP signaling in migraine pathogenesis
- The role of cAMP- and cGMP-dependent pathways in migraine pathogenesis
- The role ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels and large conductance calcium-activated potassium (BKCa) channels in migraine pathogenesis
- Identification of blood-based biomarkers for migraine
- Identification of neuroimaging biomarkers for migraine
- Testing of novel drugs for the acute and preventive treatment of migraine
- Comparative effectiveness of acute medications for migraine: a network meta-analysis
- Phase 1 studies on the effect of novel anti-migraine drugs in headache/migraine models in humans
National Collaborators
- Faisal Mohammad Amin, Department of Neurology, Danish Headache Center, Copenhagen University Hospital – Rigshospitalet, Denmark
- Kristian Agmund Haanes, Department of Clinical Experimental Research, Translational Research Centre, Rigshospitalet, Denmark
- Finn Thorup Sellebjerg, Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital – Rigshospitalet, Denmark
- Gitte Moos Knudsen, Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital – Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Henrik Larsson, Department of Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine, and PET, Copenhagen University Hospital – Rigshospitalet, Denmark
- Jens Hannibal, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Copenhagen University Hospital – Bispebjerg Hospital, Denmark
- Niklas Rye Jørgensen, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Copenhagen University Hospital – Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Ove Andersen, Department of Clinical Research, Copenhagen University Hospital – Hvidovre Hospital, Denmark
International Collaborators
- Cristina Granziera, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- Debbie Hay, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Nouchine Hadjikhani, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Rami Burstein, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Timothy Steiner, Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway