Alexander Binshtok Lab

ELSC Members

Alexander Binshtok

Professor

Phone: +972-2-6757349
Fax: +972-2-643-9736
Address: Department of Medical Neurobiology
IMRIC, Faculty of Medicine,
Ein Karem Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Pain Plasticity Research Group

Deconstructing and Reconstructing Pain. Pain is a multidimensional and multilevel experience involving complex sensory processing modulated by emotional and cognitive operations.  This complexity exists in both adaptive pain as well as in maladaptive embodiments of pain, where pain occurs without obvious stimuli.  The ability of pain systems to adapt to changes in stimuli characteristics, and, therefore, to shift the stimulus-response curve at each level of processing adds to this intricacy.  Maladaptive functional or neuropathic pain represents the highest level of complexity since there is no defined stimulus that initiates the process; yet once initiated, the pain becomes perpetual due to multilevel plastic changes occurring from the primary sensory neurons all the way to the cerebral cortex.  Inadequate comprehension of pain mechanisms is likely the reason that chronic pain has been implicated as the most prevalent unmet medical need.  Pain presents a significant and costly liability to workers, employers and society.  Yet of highest importance is the daily perpetual misery and suffering, which was perhaps best expressed by Milton in Paradise Lost: “Pain is perfect misery, the worst of Evils, and, excessive, overturns all patience.”  Lack of adequate treatments for pain has a profound impact on the quality of life and health-associated costs.  A comprehensive and detailed understanding of the neurobiology of pain is urgently required to enable the development of more effective treatments. 

In our lab are aiming to understand the complex phenomenon of pain. We are studying molecular and cellular mechanisms of normal and abnormal (chronic) pain at all levels starting from the terminal endings of peripheral neurons at the target organs and all the way up to cerebral cortex. We also developing new approaches for pain-selective anesthesia – an effective pain treatment without side effects. In our lab we are using in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology and imaging paired with computational and behavioral approaches.

Yoav-Mazor-pic
Yoav Mazor
Post Doc
Ben_Title_ELSC_pic
Ben Title
PhD Student
Omer photo
Omer Barkai
PhD Student
pp Robert
Robert H. Goldstein
PhD Student
Yaki
Yaki Caspi
PhD Student
Efrat Sheinbach
Efrat Sheinbach
Ph.D. Student
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Yishai Kushnir PhD
PhD Student
IMG-20181227-WA0015
Devora Gershon
MSc Student
Lama
Lama Abd Al Razzaq
MSc Student
shaya image for elsc 19x26
Shaya Lev
Lab Manager / Research Associate/ Teaching Administrator
Arik Tzour
Arik Tzour
Alumni
David Roberson
David Roberson
Alumni
Ben Katz
Ben Katz PhD
Research Associate
Omer Barkai Prudhvi Raj Rayi , Rachely Butterman , Ben Katz 1 2, Shaya Lev , Alexander M Binshtok

Pain. 2023 Feb 1;164(2):443-460. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002727. Epub 2022 Jul 7. PubMed PMID: 36149026. (2023)

Ben Katz , Rachel Zaguri , Simon Edvardson , Channa Maayan , Orly Elpeleg , Shaya Lev 1, Elyad Davidson , Maximilian Peters , Shlomit Kfir-Erenfeld , Esther Berger , Shifa Ghazalin , Alexander M Binshtok , Baruch Minke

J Clin Invest. 2023 Feb 1;133(3). doi: 10.1172/JCI153558. PubMed PMID: 36454632; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9888381. (2023)

Yaki Caspi, Michael Mazar , Yishai Kushnir Yoav Mazor , Ben Katz , Shaya Lev , Alexander M Binshtok

Pain. 2023 Jun 1;164(6):1388-1401. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002829. Epub 2022 Nov 29. PubMed PMID: 36645177. (2023)

Rayi PR, Lev S, Binshtok AM

Neurobiol Pain. 2023 Aug-Dec;14:100139. doi: 10.1016/j.ynpai.2023.100139. eCollection 2023 Aug-Dec. PubMed PMID: 37927365; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10624944. (2023)

Dey S, Barkai O, Gokhman I, Suissa S, Haffner-Krausz R, Wigoda N, Feldmesser E, Ben-Dor S, Kovalenko A, Binshtok A, Yaron A.

Cell Rep. 2023 Oct 31;42(10):113257. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113257. Epub 2023 Oct 17. PubMed PMID: 37851573. (2023)

Devora Gershon , Robert H Negev-Goldstein , Lama Abd Al Razzaq , Shaya Lev Alexander M Binshtok

STAR Protoc. 2022 Mar 18;3(1):101224. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101224. eCollection 2022 Mar 18. PubMed PMID: 35284836; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8904606. (2022)

Ronald Udasin, Anwesha Sil, Elia Zomot Hadas Achildiev Cohen , Jozafina Haj , Nurit Engelmayer , Shaya Lev Alexander M Binshtok, Yuval Shaked Michael A Kienzler , Raz Palty

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Mar 29;119(13):e2118160119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2118160119. Epub 2022 Mar 21. PubMed PMID: 35312368; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9060504. (2022)

Calvin Wong , Omer Barkai , Feng Wang 5, Carolina Thörn Perez 1, Shaya Lev, Weihua Cai , Shannon Tansley 1 6, Noosha Yousefpour , Mehdi Hooshmandi , Kevin C Lister , Mariam Latif A Claudio Cuello , Masha Prager-Khoutorsky , Jeffrey S Mogil Philippe Séguéla Yves De Koninck , Alfredo Ribeiro-da-Silva , Alexander M Binshtok Arkady Khoutorsky

J Clin Invest. 2022 Aug 1;132(15). doi: 10.1172/JCI152635. PubMed PMID: 35579957; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9337825. (2022)

Fernando Aleixandre-Carrera , Nurit Engelmayer , David Ares-Suárez María Del Carmen Acosta , Carlos Belmonte 1, Juana Gallar , Víctor Meseguer , Alexander M Binshtok

Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan 6;22(2). doi: 10.3390/ijms22020481. Review. PubMed PMID: 33418928; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7825137. (2021)

Omer Barkai , Rachely Butterman, Ben Katz , Shaya Lev, Alexander M Binshtok

J Neurosci. 2020 Dec 2;40(49):9346-9363. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1546-20.2020. Epub 2020 Oct 28. PubMed PMID: 33115929; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7724132. (2020)

Leibovich H, Buzaglo N, Tsuriel S, et al.

Cells 9(4):1007 (2020)

Barkai O, Puig S, Lev S, Title B, Katz B, Eli-Berchoer L, Gutstein HB, Binshtok AM.

Pain. 2019 Jun;160(6):1281-1296. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001523. (2019)

Goldstein RH, Barkai O, Íñigo-Portugués A, Katz B, Lev S, Binshtok AM.

Neuron. 2019 May 22;102(4):801-812.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.03.005. Epub 2019 Mar 26. (2019)

Neumann-Raizel H, Shilo A, Lev S, Mogilevsky M, Katz B, Shneor D, Shaul YD, Leffler A, Gabizon A, Karni R, Honigman A, Binshtok AM

Frontiers in Pharmacology, 10:1198 (2019)

Gershkovitz M, Caspi Y, Fainsod-Levi T, Katz B, Michaeli J, Khawaled S, Lev S, Polyansky L, Shaul M, Sionov R, Cohen-Daniel L, Aqeilan R, Shaul Y, Mori Y, Karni R, Fridlender Z, Binshtok AM and Granot Z

Cancer Research;78(10):2680-2690 (2018)

Goldstein, RH, Katz B, Lev S, Binshtok AM.

Journal of Biomedical Optics, 22(7), 076010 (2017)

Barkai, O, Goldstein RH, Caspi Y, Katz B, Lev S, Binshtok AM.

Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience (2017)

Cohn Yakubovich D, Eliav U, Yalon E, Schary Y, Sheyn D, Cook-Wiens G, Sun S, McKenna CE, Lev S, Binshtok AM, Pelled G, Navon G, Gazit D, Gazit Z

Bone, Volume 97, Pages 192-200 (2017)

Stueber T, Eberhardt MJ, Yaki Caspi, Lev S, Binshtok AM, Leffler A

Cell Calcium; 68:34-44 (2017)

Stueber, T, Eberhardt MJ, Hadamitzky C, Jangra A, Schenk S, Dick F, Stoetzer C, Kistner K, Reeh PW, Binshtok AM, Leffler A.

Anesthesiology. 124(5):1153–1165 (2016)

II, N, Caspi Y, Gudes S, Fishman D, Lev S, Hersfinkel M, Sekler I, Binshtok AM.

Molecular Cell Research, Volume 1863, Issue 12, Pages 2868-2880 (2016)

Tzour, A, Leibovich H, Barkai O, Biala Y, Lev S, Yaari Y, Binshtok AM

The Journal of Physiology, Volume 595, Issue 3, Pages 713-738 (2016)

Shlomo Tsuriel, Sagi Gudes, Ryan W Draft, Alexander M Binshtok & Jeff W Lichtman

Nat Methods. 2015 Jun;12(6):547-52. (2015)

Gudes S, Barkai O, Caspi Y, Katz B, Lev S, Binshtok AM.

J Neurophysiol. 2015 Jan 15;113(2):601-19. doi: 10.1152/jn.00652.2014. Epub 2014 Oct 29. (2014)

Roberson DP, Gudes S, Sprague JM, Patoski HA, Robson VK, Blasl F, Duan B, Oh SB, Bean BP, Ma Q, Binshtok AM, Woolf CJ.

Nat Neurosci. 2013 Jul;16(7):910-8 (2013)

Puopolo M, Binshtok AM, Yao GL, Oh SB, Woolf CJ, Bean BP.

J Neurophysiol. 2013 Apr;109(7):1704-12 (2013)

Zakir HM, Mostafeezur RM, Suzuki A, Hitomi S, Suzuki I, Maeda T, Seo K, Yamada Y, Yamamura K, Lev S, Binshtok AM, Iwata K, Kitagawa J.

PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44023 (2012)

Roberson DP, Binshtok AM, Blasl F, Bean BP, Woolf CJ

British Journal of Pharmacology, Volume 164, Issue 1, Pages 48-58 (2011)

Kim HY, Kim K, Li HY, Chung G, Park CK, Kim S, Jung S, Lee MK, Ahn DK, Hwang SJ, Kang Y, Binshtok AM, Bean BP, Woolf CJ, Oh SB

Pain. 150(1):29–40 (2010)

Binshtok AM, Gerner P, Oh SB, Puopolo M, Roberson DP, Suzuki S, Herbert T, Wang C, Kim D, Chung G, Mitani AA, Wang GK, Bean BP, Woolf CJ

Anesthesiology, 111(1):127-137 (2009)

Binshtok AM, Wang H, Zimmermann K, Amaya F, Vardeh D, Shi L, Brenner G, Ji RRC, Bean BP, Woolf CJ, Samad TA

Journal of Neuroscience, 28 (52) 14062-14073 (2008)

Gerner P, Binshtok AM, Wang CF, Hevelone ND, Bean BP, Woolf CJ, Wang GK

Anesthesiology;109(5):872-878 (2008)

Binshtok AM, Bean BP, and Woolf CJ

Nature, volume 449, pages 607–610 (2007)

Kim DY, Carey BW, Wang H, Ingano LA, Binshtok AM, Wertz MH, Pettingell WH, He P, Lee VM, Woolf CJ, Kovacs DM

Nature Cell Biology, volume 9, pages 755–764 (2007)

Binshtok AM, Fleidervish IA, Sprengel R, Gutnick MJ

Journal of Neuroscience, 26 (2) 708-715 (2006)

Tegeder I, Costigan M, Griffin RS, Abele A, Belfer I, Schmidt H, Ehnert C, Nejim J, Marian C, Scholz J, Wu T, Allchorne A, Diatchenko L, Binshtok AM, Goldman D, Adolph J, Sama S, Atlas SJ, Carlezon WA, Parsegian A, Lötsch J, Fillingim RB, Maixner W, Geisslinger G, Max MB, Woolf CJ

Nature Medicine, volume 12, pages 1269–1277 (2006)

We are looking for excellent student and postdocs
Honors:
Alexander vor Humboldt Fellow (2020)

Innovation Forum Outstanding Visitors Award (2016 Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China)

Harvey Granat Award in Neuro – Anesthesia Research (2014)

The Prusiner – Abramsky Research Award in Clinical and Basic Neuroscience (2012)

Alexander Binshtok

Professor

Phone: +972-2-6757349
Fax: +972-2-643-9736
Address: Department of Medical Neurobiology
IMRIC, Faculty of Medicine,
Ein Karem Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

“Working memory”