The Bingel Laboratory
Prof. Dr. Ulrike Bingel and her research group focuses on the interaction between pain and cognitive processes. We have a longstanding expertise in investigating the CNS mechanisms underlying nociception, pain, and pain modulation in health and disease. In our research, we use behavioural paradigms, pharmacological modulations, as well as functional and structural brain imaging. Being particularly intrigued by the reciprocal effects of pain and cognition, we have a strong focus on translational questions such as the role of expectations and prior experiences on analgesic treatment outcomes. Our interdisciplinary research group comprises neurologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, biologists, and computer scientists and is based at the Department of Neurology at the University Medicine Essen. We are affiliated with the Erwin-L-Hahn institute for magnetic resonance imaging and the Translational Pain Research Department of the University Pain Center. Our research is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
Recent News
Two medical doctoral students of the Bingellab, Aoibhne Braunewell (right) and Hannah Gronewold (left), secured two of the competitive ELAN grants. From the summer semester 2025 onwards, they will conduct their doctoral projects as part of the lab.
Aoibhne’s ELAN light project will compare the empathic and prosocial abilities of people with and without chronic pain conditions such as chronic back pain to investigate how people with persistent pain can understand and share the pain of others around them.
Hannah’s ELAN project aims to investigate the impact of experienced side effects on subsequent treatment decisions using an experimental pain paradigm. By understanding these effects, they seek to improve patient adherence and optimize decision-making in pharmacotherapy in the long run.
Performing high-quality research can be challenging, especially for early career researchers! Helena Hartmann and her colleagues created a solution: ARIADNE – a living and interactive resource navigator that helps to use and search a dynamically updated database of resources. In the corresponding published tutorial in the journal Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, they guide researchers through a standard research project using ARIADNE along the way. Read the paper here and try out the tool here!
We warmly invite you to this great online patient forum (in German) on 29.9.2024 from 17:30 – 19:15 where Ulrike Bingel, Helena Hartmann, and Sven Benson will talk about the power of expectations. Click here to download the flyer and here to register for the Zoom webinar.
At the WTZ-Aktionstag organized by the Westdeutsches Tumorzentrum, some of the Bingellab’s members showed patients and colleagues what and how we are researching treatment expectations and their effects on pain. Thanks to all people who were interested in our work!
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