The Team
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Emerson Krock
Principal Investigator
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Emerson is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences at McGill University. His lab is located in the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain at McGill's downtown Montreal campus.
Emerson's research interests are focused on chronic pain and have included projects on pain in autoimmune diseases, intervertebral disc degeneration, chronic low back pain, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. Emerson completed his PhD at McGill with Dr. Lisbet Haglund and pursued his postdoc with Camilla Svensson at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023, Emerson returned to McGill to start his own lab, which investigates how peripheral neuroimmune interactions and the gut microbiome regulate chronic pain.
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Emerson and the lab received early support from the Rita Allen Foundation when he received the 2023 Rita Allen Scholars' Award in Pain. He received further support from federal and international funders including NSERC, the Biocodex Microbiota Foundation, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Quebec Pain Research Network and the Louise and Alan Edwards Foundation.
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Outside of the lab Emerson enjoys spending time outside running, skiing or attempting to look after a garden.
Allutas Alhamwi
PhD student
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Allutas (meaning "Lotus" in Arabic) completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at McGill University and is currently a PhD student. Her research focuses on the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and how this remodeling influences pain pathways, particularly in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).
Born in Syria, she has lived in several different places and speaks three languages. Outside of the lab, Allutas is passionate about community service. She has volunteered with various organizations and held leadership roles, including serving as a youth leader with the Aga Khan Foundation and a camp counselor. In her free time, she enjoys dancing dabke (a traditional Levantine dance), going for walks, spending time with friends, and watching TV shows.
Hannah Cho
PhD student
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Hannah was born in Vancouver and had lived in 6 different cities abroad before settling in Montreal to pursue her undergraduate degree in Honours Cognitive Neuroscience at McGill University. Now a graduate student, she is conducting research on fibromyalgia with a focus on the role of cross-reactive autoantibodies and their development through the gut microbiota.
Her academic interests lie in neuroscience and pain science, and she is passionate about translating research into meaningful clinical applications. Outside the lab, you can usually find her traveling, running by the canal, discovering new coffee shops, or—like many others—spiralling over life complexities.
Ezrah Isaac Roy
MSc student
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Ezrah Isaac Roy is a master’s student born and raised in Quebec City with a love for cats. He completed his bachelors degree at McGill in Microbiology and Immunology with a minor in neuroscience. His current project focuses on identifying IgG-coated bacteria in patients with Fibromyalgia to better understand the role of cross-reactive autoantibodies in the gut microbiome of Fibromyalgia patients. Outside the lab, you can find him all cozied up at home drawing, building LEGO sets, playing video games, and practicing mixed martial arts. ​
Lab Alumni
Nicole Scher - NSERC URSA undergraduate research student
Lesly Nkindi - MIMM 396 undergraduate research student