The Neurobiology of Somatic Sensation

Our external sensory systems enable us to perceive the world around us, while internal sensory systems reveal the hidden world within us. Among these, somatic sensation, from touch and pain at the body's surface to the perception of stimuli inside the body, remains one of the least understood. This course explores the cellular building blocks of somatosensation and the neural principles by which they are organized. We will cover sensory transduction and coding, touch, pain, temperature, interoception, discriminative and affective touch, the critical role of touch in cognitive and social development, and the genetic basis of sensory disorders. Topics span receptors and signaling mechanisms, neural circuits, behavioral and physiological responses, and will highlight cutting-edge tools for discovery, from neurophysiology to molecular-genetic approaches for studying the extraordinary diversity of peripheral sensory neurons and associated spinal cord and brainstem circuits.