André Mouraux heads the UCLouvain Institute of Neuroscience within which he coordinates a research group exploring the physiology and pathophysiology of the human thermonociceptive system. Using functional brain imaging techniques such as scalp and intracerebral electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), combined with novel methods to selectively activate specific classes of nociceptive afferents (temperature-controlled infrared laser stimulation, mechanical pinprick stimulation, electric stimulation) and neuromodulation techniques (transcranial direct current stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation), he aims at better understanding the neural processes underlying the perception of pain, the plastic changes in nociceptive pathways that occur after inflammation, injury or sustained nociceptive input, and their involvement in the development of chronic pain. Several of these approaches are also translated into tools for pharmacological development and clinical diagnosis (http://www.nocions.org).