Taichi Goto
Assistant Professor
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Cizik School of Nursing
Department of Research
My research focuses on understanding the biological mechanisms that link tissue repair and pain following injury, with the long-term goal of developing interventions that reduce pain without compromising healing. Using integrative molecular, neurobiological, and biobehavioral approaches, our laboratory investigates how neuroimmune interactions, skin cells, sensory neurons, immune cells, and extracellular matrix remodeling collectively shape wound healing and pain trajectories.
A major focus of the laboratory is defining the dynamic molecular programs that govern the balance between tissue repair and pain after burn injury. By integrating longitudinal behavioral phenotyping with transcriptomic, spatial, and biomarker analyses across multiple tissues, we aim to identify biological transition points that distinguish adaptive healing from persistent pain and delayed repair. These studies provide a mechanistic framework for developing timing-specific, mechanism-based interventions that improve recovery while minimizing reliance on opioid analgesics. Our laboratory also evaluates candidate non-opioid analgesic interventions in preclinical wound models to identify strategies that reduce pain while preserving normal wound healing.
In parallel, our laboratory investigates psychoneurological symptoms, including pain, fatigue, and cognitive impairment, in populations such as individuals with cancer and dementia. Across both preclinical and clinical research, we seek to identify shared biological mechanisms underlying symptom heterogeneity and develop objective biomarkers that support precision symptom management.
Students completing a tutorial in my laboratory will gain experience in behavioral neuroscience, wound biology, molecular and multi-omics techniques, biomarker analysis, bioinformatics, and translational research. Trainees will learn to integrate data across preclinical and clinical studies to investigate symptom mechanisms, evaluate candidate therapeutics, and develop biologically informed strategies for precision symptom management.
Keywords: pain, wound healing, burn injury, neuroimmune interactions, psychoneurological symptoms, biomarkers, multi-omics, transcriptomics, non-opioid analgesics, translational neuroscience
Education & Training
PhD, University of Tokyo, 2018