Overall, the Traub lab studies how the nervous system processes information about pain from visceral organs in healthy individuals and following injury or disease using animal models of visceral pain syndromes with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapies. Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions include 10 idiopathic pain conditions/syndromes (e.g., irritable bowel syndrome, temporomandibular disorder, migraine, fibromyalgia) where 2 or more conditions overlap in presentation more than 50% of the time. These conditions affect tens of millions of people and pose a significant pain management problem. We have developed an animal model replicating the pain associated with temporomandibular disorder comorbid with irritable bowel syndrome. Using this model, we are examining changes in the nervous system that can contribute to the overlap of these two disparate pain conditions. Several studies are focused on understanding the role of sex and stress in presentation of these conditions and finding novel therapeutic avenues to treat the pain.