Nicolas Massaly, PhD Joins Research Faculty

The UCLA Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine welcomes Nicolas Massaly, PhD as Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology!

Originally from France, Dr. "Niko" Massaly did his graduate training in the labs of Dr. Mouledous and Dr. Frances in Toulouse, France, where he studied the role of protein degradation in opioid-context associative memories and opioid-seeking behavior. Then he designed and tested a fentanyl derivate lacking centrally-mediated side effect as a promising tool for pain management in the lab of Dr. Stein in Berlin, Germany. To further build his research on the neurocircuits driving pain-induced negative affect and their impact on reinforcing properties of either natural rewards or opioid drugs, he joined the lab of Dr. Jose Moron-Concepcion at Columbia University and then Washington University in St Louis.

Dr. Massaly's laboratory uses multiple avenues to improve pain treatment and dampen the development of opioid use disorder. Using a variety of multidisciplinary approaches, from viral-based neurocircuitry tracing, pharmacology, opto-/chemo-genetics behavioral models of pain, negative affective states, and drug self-administration, the Massaly Lab works towards unraveling the neuronal networks and allostatic changes that might influence behavioral outcomes.

For more on Dr. Massaly's research, visit his laboratory website.