Dr. Igor Spigelman joined the faculty at the UCLA School of Dentistry in 1991. He contributes to teaching in the dental school curriculum and in graduate school courses including the interdepartmental Neuroscience Graduate Program. His research on the mechanisms of chronic pain and alcohol addiction resulted in numerous publications and two patents.

Dr. Spigelman is a neuropharmacologist conducting research on the mechanisms and relief of chronic pain, addiction, seizures and other neurodegenerative conditions such as stroke and brain trauma. His lab utilizes multidisciplinary approaches to identify molecular targets for therapy followed by development of novel pharmaceuticals and non-viral gene therapies for these disorders.

Spigelman, I. Physiologic mechanisms of inhibition and status epilepticus. In: Status Epilepticus, Mechanisms and Management, C.G. Wasterlain and D.M. Treiman editors, MIT Press, Cambridge, Chapter 21, 281-293, 2006. Mitrirattanakul, S., Ramakul, N., Guerrero, A. V., Matzuka, Y., T. Ono, H. Iwase, Mackie, K., Faull, K. F., and Spigelman, I. Site-specific increases in peripheral cannabinoid receptors and their endogenous ligands in a model of neuropathic pain, Pain, 126: 102-114, 2006. Liang, J., Suryanarayanan, A., Abriam, A., Snyder, B.A., Olsen, R.W., and Spigelman, I. Mechanisms of reversible GABAA receptor plasticity after ethanol intoxication. Journal of Neuroscience 27: 12367-12377, 2007. Thakor, D.K., Lin, A., Matsuka, Y., Meyer, E.M., Ruangsri, S., Nishimura, I., and Spigelman, I. Increased peripheral nerve excitability and local NaV1.8 mRNA up-regulation in painful neuropathy Molecular Pain 5:14, 2009. Spigelman, I., Olsen, R.W., Liang, J., Suryanarayanan, A., Lindemeyer, A.K., Meyer, E.M., Shen, Y., Bagnera, R. & Marty, V.Molecular and Functional Changes in Receptors: GABA and Chronic Alcohol Consumption. In: Biological Research on Addiction: Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders. Edited by Peter Miller (Editor-in-Chief), Elsevier Inc., Academic Press, Chapter 130, pp. 219–230, 2013.