Dr. Alexander Binshtok received his BSc in physical therapy from Ben Gurion University, a PhD in neuroscience from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and postdoctoral training at Harvard University with Dr. Clifford Wolf, a leading expert in pain research. Before establishing an independent laboratory at the Hebrew University in 2011, he served as an instructor in anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Binshtok's lab studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of normal and abnormal (chronic) pain, from the terminal endings of peripheral neurons to the properties of pain-related spinal cord circuitry and higher brain centers. Dr. Binshtok and his team use advanced genetic, molecular, electro-optical and computational methods to study the plasticity of pain-related circuits along the pain neuraxis of the central nervous system. He and his team are also developing new approaches for pain-selective anesthesia — an effective pain treatment without side effects.