Rate My Professor Laura Stone

Stone's research focuses on the mechanisms of low back and musculoskeletal pain, epigenetic regulation of chronic pain, and optimization of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. She leads funded projects such as an NIH R01 on epigenetic drivers of chronic low back pain (PI, 2024-2029), an NIAMS R61 on a mouse model of intervertebral disc degeneration-induced low back pain (PI, 2024-2026), and a U.S. Department of Defense grant on pathways from acute to chronic back pain (Co-Investigator, 2020-2025). Key publications encompass "Effective treatment of chronic low back pain in humans reverses abnormal brain anatomy and function" (Journal of Neuroscience, 2011), "Senolytic treatment for low back pain" (Science Advances, 2025), "Epigenetic landscape of symptomatic disk degeneration" (Pain Reports, 2025), "Exercise attenuates low back pain and alters epigenetic regulation in intervertebral discs in a mouse model" (The Spine Journal, 2021), and "Epigenetic signature of chronic low back pain in human T cells" (Pain Reports, 2021). Among her honors are the Québec Science Top 10 award, the International Society for the Study of Lumbar Spine Basic Science Best Paper Awards (2014 and 2019), NIH HEAL Initiative funding, and permanent membership on the NIH Neurobiology of Pain and Itch Study Section.