George Boundouki
Clinical Research Fellow

George obtained his MBChB from The University of Liverpool in 2004. After house jobs in Liverpool, he completed his Basic Surgical Training in the northwest of England and obtained his MRCS in 2008. He is currently conducting research at Queen Mary prior to entering higher surgical training. As a result of his preliminary data, he was awarded a Royal College of Surgeons Research Fellowship in 2011.

Project: The role of voltage gated sodium channel 1.9 in visceral afferent signalling

Abdominal pain is the one of the commonest causes of presentation to a surgeon or gastroenterologist and more than 1 in 3 patients seen in hospital clinics have recurrent unexplained pain. Sodium channels are crucial for the generation and transmission of signals from the gut to the brain. This research will study the main pathway along which the pain signal travels and aims to test ways of blocking the signal. This may lead to the development of drugs that can be used by patients to ease their pain with minimal side effects.