Dr Ryan Patel (BA, PhD) is a research associate at the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, King’s College London. He completed his PhD at UCL where he trained as an in vivo electrophysiologist with a specific interest in mechanisms of peripheral and central pain modulation. He has authored 30 peer-reviewed articles/reviews/book chapters in the fields of neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, endogenous pain modulation and translational research. His current research combines optogenetic, electrophysiological and behavioural approaches to identify top-down circuits that mediate descending control of pain with an overall goal to bridge the gap between bench and bedside.