Larissa J Strath

Larissa J Strath,

Assistant Professor

Department: MD-HOBI-GENERAL
Business Phone: (352) 294-5800
Business Email: larissastrath@ufl.edu

About Larissa J Strath

My research is largely focused on the effects that dietary composition has on the modulation of the pain experience, specifically through epigenetic and immune mechanisms. With that in mind, I have dealt with a variety of painful conditions and pathologies (i.e. chronic low back pain, knee osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia etc.) and understanding of nutrient status and their effects on the system at a variety of ages (i.e. inflammation and oxidative stress). My areas of expertise include nutritional biochemistry, pain medicine, neuroscience, and epigenetics. My experience crosses borders, having basic science, clinical science, and epidemiological opportunities over the course of my doctoral and postdoctoral training. My PhD work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB; PI: Dr. Robert Sorge) employed the use of nutritive models to identify factors that may contribute substantially to the development and perpetuation of chronic pain, with an emphasis on sex, gender and racial disparities therein. I have extensive experimental skills in the acquisition, protocol design and execution, and analyses of a variety of nutrition-based models (i.e. diet pattern analysis, nutrient analysis, Dietary Inflammatory Index) in humans and rodents. I have advanced theoretical and practical skills in designing, implementing and analyzing various neuroscience-based pain-related measures. My doctoral training gave me extensive experience in the use of dynamic quantitative sensory testing, as well as experience investigating blood-based inflammatory and oxidative stress mediators and standardized measures of psychosocial assessment. At the University of Florida (UF; PI: Dr. Yenisel Cruz-Almeida), my postdoctoral tenure afforded me a unique opportunity to employ my research skills related to nutri-biological and psychosocial pain phenotyping in an aging population and to expand the existing body of literature specific to epigenetic and neuroscientific pain-related mechanisms. My current research interests center around understanding the nutriepigenomic mechanisms that contribute to the pain experience observed in various types of acute and chronic pain. Additionally, I am also interested in how the nutriepigenomic/pain relationship impacts cognition and the development of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease over time. To that end, I received the prestigious K99/R00 Pathways to Independence Award from the National Instute on Aging. The K99 phase of the project revealed significant associations of nutrition status with pain and disability outcomes, as well as cognitive functioning. My research endeavors moving forward aim to include individuals with mild cognitive impairment to observe associations in this group between pain, nutrition, metabolomics, and epigenetics. My long-term goal is to combine nutriepigeneomic approaches to develop a program of research investigating the mechanisms, prevention, and treatment strategies through nutritional avenues to combat comorbid chronic pain and cognitive disease as one ages.

Additional Positions:
Chair
2024 – Current · (HOBI) Student Experience Committee

Accomplishments

Junior Investigator of the Year for Pain in Older Persons
2023 · International Association for the Study of Pain
Gregg Steele Outstanding Graduate Student in Behavioral Neuroscience
2021 · The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Teaching Profile

Courses Taught
2023-2025
DEN6251 Clin Manage Dent Pain

Research Profile

Areas of Interest
  • Aging
  • Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Chronic Pain
  • Clinical Nutrition
  • Clinical Translational Neuroscience
  • Epigenetics
  • Immune-Mediated Disease
  • Interventional pain medicine
  • Neuroimmune interactions in Neurodegenerative diseases
  • Nutrition and Wellness

Publications

Academic Articles
2024
Differential DNA methylation profiles of Alzheimer’s disease-related genomic pathways in the blood of cognitively-intact individuals with and without high impact chronic pain
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Reports. 8(1):1549-1557 [DOI] 10.1177/25424823241289376.
2024
Epigenetic Aging: A Socio-Biological Link to Chronic Pain?
The journal of pain. 25(2):572-573 [DOI] 10.1016/j.jpain.2023.11.007. [PMID] 37984508.
2024
Food insecurity is associated with chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain in the USA
Public Health Nutrition. 27(1) [DOI] 10.1017/s1368980023002732.
2024
High-Impact Pain Is Associated With Epigenetic Aging Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study
The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. 79(8) [DOI] 10.1093/gerona/glae149. [PMID] 38855906.
2024
Perspective: Promoting Healthy Aging through Nutrition: A Research Centers Collaborative Network Workshop Report.
Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.). 15(4) [DOI] 10.1016/j.advnut.2024.100199. [PMID] 38432592.
2024
Race-specific associations: inflammatory mediators and chronic low back pain.
Pain. 165(7):1513-1522 [DOI] 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003154. [PMID] 38323608.
2024
Socioeconomic Status, Knee Pain, and Epigenetic Aging in Community-Dwelling Middle-to-Older Age Adults.
The journal of pain. 25(2):293-301 [DOI] 10.1016/j.jpain.2023.06.002. [PMID] 37315728.
2023
A Brief Overview: Sex Differences in Prevalent Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions.
International journal of environmental research and public health. 20(5) [DOI] 10.3390/ijerph20054521. [PMID] 36901530.
2023
Altered response to Toll-like receptor 4 activation in fibromyalgia: A low-dose, human experimental endotoxemia pilot study.
Brain, behavior, & immunity – health. 34 [DOI] 10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100707. [PMID] 38020479.
2023
Epigenetic age acceleration mediates the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and pain severity in adults with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis pain
Social Science & Medicine. 331 [DOI] 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116088. [PMID] 37473540.
2023
Vitamin D Metabolism Genes Are Differentially Methylated in Individuals with Chronic Knee Pain.
Lifestyle genomics. 16(1):98-105 [DOI] 10.1159/000529823. [PMID] 36854277.
2022
Accelerated Epigenetic Aging Mediates the Association between Vitamin D Levels and Knee Pain in Community-Dwelling Individuals.
The journal of nutrition, health & aging. 26(4):318-323 [DOI] 10.1007/s12603-022-1758-z. [PMID] 35450986.
2022
Clinical vitamin D levels are associated with insular volume and inferior temporal gyrus white matter surface area in community-dwelling individuals with knee pain.
Frontiers in neuroscience. 16 [DOI] 10.3389/fnins.2022.882322. [PMID] 36117614.
2022
Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) is Associated with Movement-Evoked Pain Severity in Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain: Sociodemographic Differences.
The journal of pain. 23(8):1437-1447 [DOI] 10.1016/j.jpain.2022.03.237. [PMID] 35417792.
2022
Epigenetic Aging Mediates the Association between Pain Impact and Brain Aging in Middle to Older Age Individuals with Knee Pain.
Epigenetics. 17(13):2178-2187 [DOI] 10.1080/15592294.2022.2111752. [PMID] 35950599.
2022
Racial Differences in 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D and Self-Reported Pain Severity in a Sample of Individuals Living with Non-Specific Chronic Low Back Pain.
Journal of pain research. 15:3859-3867 [DOI] 10.2147/JPR.S386565. [PMID] 36514480.
2022
Racial Differences in Pain, Nutrition, and Oxidative Stress.
Pain and therapy. 11(1):37-56 [DOI] 10.1007/s40122-022-00359-z. [PMID] 35106711.
2022
Relationship between diet and relative risk of pain in a cross-sectional analysis of the REGARDS longitudinal study.
Pain management. 12(2):168-179 [DOI] 10.2217/pmt-2021-0048. [PMID] 34431328.
2020
<p>Sex and Gender are Not the Same: Why Identity Is Important for People Living with HIV and Chronic Pain</p>
Journal of Pain Research. Volume 13:829-835 [DOI] 10.2147/jpr.s248424.
2020
Dietary Interventions for Treatment of Chronic Pain: Oxidative Stress and Inflammation.
Pain and therapy. 9(2):487-498 [DOI] 10.1007/s40122-020-00200-5. [PMID] 33085012.
2020
The Effect of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets on Pain in Individuals with Knee Osteoarthritis.
Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.). 21(1):150-160 [DOI] 10.1093/pm/pnz022. [PMID] 30865775.
2018
Intersectional health-related stigma in persons living with HIV and chronic pain: implications for depressive symptoms.
AIDS care. 30(sup2):66-73 [DOI] 10.1080/09540121.2018.1468012. [PMID] 29848042.
2017
The impact of the Standard American Diet in rats: Effects on behavior, physiology and recovery from inflammatory injury.
Scandinavian journal of pain. 17:316-324 [DOI] 10.1016/j.sjpain.2017.08.009. [PMID] 28927908.

Grants

Aug 2024 ACTIVE
Pain and Nutrition in Dementia and Alzheimer's-2 (PANDA-2)
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: NATL INST OF HLTH NIA
Jun 2023 ACTIVE
UFR CTSI Instituitonal Support
Role: Project Manager
Funding: UF DIV OF SPONSORED RES MATCHING FUNDS
May 2023 – Apr 2024
Pain and Nutrition in Dementia and Alzheimers PANDA
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: NATL INST OF HLTH NIA
Jul 2019 – Jun 2024
OoR Matching Support for CTSI
Role: Project Manager
Funding: UF DIV OF SPONSORED RES MATCHING FUNDS

Education

Post Doctoral Associate
2021-2023 · University of Florida
Doctor of Philosophy – Behavioral Neuroscience
2016-2021 · The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Bachelor of Science – Biology: Pre-Med; Minor: Chemistry
2012-2016 · Faulkner University

Contact Details

Phones:
Business:
(352) 294-5800
Emails:
Addresses:
Business Mailing:
PO Box 100147
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Business Street:
1889 Museum Rd, Suite 7000
GAINESVILLE FL 32611