Good treatments for chronic pain are lacking because initial research in animal models does not often translate to humans. To tackle this, Juliet Mwirigi studies the biology of chronic pain in both rodent and human sensory neurons, focusing on evolutionarily shared mechanisms to develop better treatments. Her research centers on membrane receptors, which control cell signaling and are key drug targets. Using advanced tools, she explores where these receptors are, how they work, and how they differ across species.