Joel Castro Kraftchenko

Joel Castro Kraftchenko

School of Biomedicine

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences


2015: Joel Castro (Kraftchenko) Research Officer
Visceral Pain Laboratory (SAHMRI)
Flinders University.

Dr. Joel Castro Kraftchenko (known as Joel Castro on its publication records) is a principal investigator and Head of the Endometriosis Research Unit at the Visceral Pain Research Group, located at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). He is an expert in the field of visceral nociception and pain and his research focuses on understanding the causes, and developing treatments, for chronic visceral pain associated with inflammatory diseases such as endometriosis, inflammatory bowel disorder (IBD), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Dr. Castro’s research has contributed 62 peer-reviewed manuscripts in top ranked journals including Nature (x2), Cell, Nature Communication, Gastroenterology, Gut, PNAS, Pain, and JCI insight. Together these outputs have been cited over 4670 times (Google Scholar August 2024) with and h-index of 36. 65

Dr Castro’s research focuses on studying the sensory afferents innervating visceral organs, to understand how pain is detected from these sites. He investigates the ion channels/receptors expressed within these afferents (which govern their function); how these afferents are altered in animal models of endometriosis, IBD and IBS, and what changes in ion channel/receptor expression occur, to trigger these alterations and cause chronic visceral pain.

Throughout his career Dr. Castro has contributed to the establishment and characterisation of clinically relevant animal models of endometriosis, IBD and IBD in remission (IBS-like mouse). He has developed several techniques crucial to identify functional, structural, and molecular characteristics of sensory fibres innervating visceral organs in health and disease states. The knowledge gained through this work has enabled fundamental breakthroughs in the treatment of pain in IBD and IBS patients. For example, as part of a collaboration with Ironwood pharmaceuticals, we performed the pre-clinical studies to support approval by the FDA of Linaclotide, a drug designed to relieve chronic visceral pain in IBS patients with constipation (IBS-C). This was a breakthrough for the field and was the first newly approved first-in-class treatment for IBS-C for several years.

As a principal investigator:

  • 2020-2024: NHMRC Ideas Grant APP1181448 (Castro, PI). “Decoding the pathophysiology of chronic pelvic pain associated with endometriosis and related visceral comorbidities”. Goal: Using clinically relevant models of endometriosis in combination with human samples, to identify novel mechanisms driving chronic pelvic pain in endometriosis.
  • 2021-2022: Endometriosis Australia Foundation Research Grant (Castro, PI). “Identifying inflammatory mediators secreted by the endometrium of women with endometriosis, relevant to pain transmission from visceral organs”. Goal: Using clinically relevant models of endometriosis in combination with human samples, to identify novel mechanisms driving chronic pelvic pain in endometriosis.
  • 2020-2021: Flinders Medical Foundation Grant as sole CIA (Castro, PI). “Developing a in vivo technique to investigate endometriosis-related chronic pelvic pain”. Goal: Seed grant to help developing an assay to measure the activity of sensory neurons within intact Dorsal Root Ganglia in vivo (intra-vital imaging)

As a Co-investigator:

  • 2022-2024: Pain Management Grant with The Hospital Research Foundation Group (Wardill, Mrozik, Lynn, and Castro). “Does the gut microbiota play an important role in mediating the painful side effects of cancer treatment?”
  • 2021-2022: Innovation Grant Scheme. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne CIs: Sarah Holdsworth-Carson, Dr Joel Castro, A/Prof Berin Boughton, Dr Jane Girling.
  • 2020-2021: H.S and J.C Anderson Charitable Trust. Dr Jane Girling, A/Prof Rebecca Campbell, Dr Joel Castro, Dr Sarah Holdsworth-Carson
  • 2010-present: Industry support from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, to determine novel treatments for chronic abdominal pain associated with IBS.

Research Only

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2015 - 2019 External Supervisor Role of Voltage-gated Sodium Channel Isoforms in Electrophysiological Properties of Neurons Innervating the Viscera in Mice Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Andelain Erickson

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