Michael Hildebrand

Professor

• PhD (University of British Columbia)
• 6310 Health Sciences Building, Carleton University
• 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6
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Dr. Mike Hildebrand completed his PhD in neurophysiology at UBC, followed by an industrial R&D fellowship at NeuroMed Pharmaceuticals in Vancouver. After this, Mike completed an academic postdoctoral fellowship at Sick Kids Hospital. Mike is now leading a translational pain research program as a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Carleton University and as an Affiliate Investigator at The Ottawa Hospital. His dynamic team of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers are studying mechanisms and potential treatment targets for pain using a combination of animal models and pioneering human spinal cord preclinical assays. Mike also serves as Associate Vice-Provost (Graduate Student Affairs) in the Office of Graduate Studies. He’s also a runner and loves candy!

Eligible to supervise at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Past Courses Taught:

• NEUR 3206: Sensory and Motor Neuroscience
• NEUR 4200: Seminar on Current Advances in Neuroscience

Scholarly Work & Research Interests:

The Hildebrand Lab investigates spinal mechanisms of pain processing. They use a combination of molecular, pharmacological, electrophysiological, and behavioural approaches to identify the molecular pathways that regulate pain sensation in both acute and chronic pain states. The goals of the lab include:

• Exploring spinal networks in both rodent and human tissue models of pain bridge the translational divide between basic science research and the unmet clinical needs of chronic pain patients
• Identifying new molecular targets and potential treatment approaches for managing chronic pain

Selected Publications:

Griffiths, K.^*, Armstrong, J.^*, Martin, N., Murray-Lawson, C., Oneil, E., David, L.S.,  Temi, S., Dedek, A., Parnell, J., Rudyk, C., Krajewski, J.L., McDermott, J.S., Levine, A.J., Li, B., Tsai, E.C., Hildebrand, M.E. (2026) Expression and localization of NMDA receptor GluN2 subunits in dorsal horn pain circuits across sex, species, and late postnatal development. Journal of Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.22.683915. ^*Both authors contributed equally to this work.  

Dedek, A., Gambeta, E., Shriraam, R., Topcu, E., McDermott, J.S., Krajewski, J.L., Tsai, E.C., Hildebrand, M.E. (2026) Processing and sectioning of organ donor spinal cord tissue for electrophysiology on acute human spinal cord slices. Brain Communications. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag157 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13179502/ 

Dedek, A., Alles, S.R.A, Hildebrand, M.E. (2026) Electrophysiological analysis of human pain-processing cells and circuits. Anesthesia & Analgesia. https://journals.lww.com/anesthesia-analgesia/citation/9900/electrophysiological_analysis_of_human.1840.aspx

Bellavance, J., David, L.S., Hildebrand, M.E. (2024) An open-source tool for investigation of differential RNA expression between spinal cord cells of male and female mice. Journal of Neuroscience Research. 102(12): e70008. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jnr.70008

Dedek, A., Topcu, E., Dedek, C., McDermott, J.S., Krajewski, J.L., Tsai, E.C., Hildebrand, M.E. (2024) Heterogeneity of synaptic NMDA receptor responses within individual lamina I pain-processing neurons across sex in rats and humans. The Journal of Physiology. 602(20): 5309-5327. https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP285521

Parnell, J.,Martin, N., Dedek, A., Rudyk, C., Landrigan, J., Bellevance, J., Vanderloo, S., Tsai, E.C., Hildebrand, M.E. (2023) Cannabinoid CB1 receptor expression and localization in the dorsal horn of male and female human and rat spinal cord. Canadian Journal of Pain. 7(2): 1-16. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/24740527.2023.2264895?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed

Dedek, A., Xu, J., Lorenzo, L.E., Kandegedara, C., Godin, A.G., Glavina, G., Landrigan, J., Lombroso, P.J., Tsai, E.C., De Koninck, Y., Hildebrand, M.E. (2022) Sexual dimorphism in a neuronal mechanism of spinal hyperexcitability across rodent and human models of pathological pain. Brain. 145(3): 1124-1138. https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/145/3/1124/6551129?login=true

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