Sunita Yang’s work is to develop techniques to help treat patients to a more natural level of suffering.

This month saw the results of the groundbreaking research, after Yang met with Dr Chris Beardsley (pictured) on 1 March in Sydney to discuss her work in pain relief.

Speaking at a Sydney press conference, Dr Beardsley said these findings are just the starting point, and will enable Yang to start delivering patients relief from a pain that most likely isn’t due to a condition like osteoarthritis.

“I think this is going to enable her to develop pain relief medicines for common conditions like back pain, shoulder pain in general, and other common causes of pain in society like headache and migraine,” Dr Beardsley said.

Dr Beardsley said Yang, who is based in Melbourne, is developing research to identify the specific mechanisms of pain that have the greatest therapeutic impact.

Her team at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience are also developing painkillers that are derived from cannabis extract, which has been shown in research to help remove spinal cord injury and alleviate chronic pain.

In December 2014, Yang was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), an incurable neurodegenerative brain condition. She is due to deliver her second baby in April next year.

Her work has received grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Cancer Council Australia.