Allan-Hermann Pool

Allan-Hermann Pool is a Professor and Eugene McDermott Endowed Scholar in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He holds joint appointments in the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, and is affiliated with the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute. His research focuses on neural circuits underlying animal motivation, pain, and gene therapy development. He completed his PhD at UC Berkeley and postdoctoral training at Caltech, where he pioneered technologies for mapping biological drive circuits.

Education: PhD in Neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley (2014); Postdoctoral Fellow at California Institute of Technology (2014–2021).

Research Interests: The Pool Lab investigates the cellular mechanisms of pain relief, pain pathways, and drive circuits using advanced techniques like single-cell transcriptomics, spatial transcriptomics, and viral engineering. They aim to develop targeted therapies to re-engineer neural circuits for therapeutic purposes. Current projects include mapping central pain circuits and creating non-viral therapeutic delivery methods.

Publications highlight innovations in transcriptomic profiling, gene editing methods, and neurophysiological mechanisms of thirst and sodium appetite. The lab’s work bridges basic neuroscience with translational medicine.

Lab Affiliations: Pool Lab (https://www.thepoollab.org) is located in the O’Donnell Brain Institute building, collaborating across departments to advance neurobiological research and therapeutic development.