Mathieu Roy, McGill University

Research

Crc Brain Imaging Dopamine Music Pain Reward Chronic Low Back Pain Inflammation

Latest papers

Unraveling the pain trajectory in chronic low back pain patients during a physical exercise training program.
Journal of science and medicine in sport · 2026
Mechanisms Underlying Pain Avoidance in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026 · senior author
A scoping review of music-based pain treatment mechanism research.
Pain reports · 2026 · senior author

All 82 publications

Latest funding

Neuroimmune responses to physical exercise training in chronic low back pain
CIHR · 2025 · Supervisor
$140,000
Developing inclusive, ethical, and responsible markers for chronic pain conditions
CIHR · 2024 · Co-investigator
$623,475
Development and performance of a model combining a polygenic risk score and biopsychosocial measures to predict the transition of acute to chronic low back pain
CIHR · 2023 · Co-investigator
$596,700

All 14 grants and awards

82 publications.

01

Unraveling the pain trajectory in chronic low back pain patients during a physical exercise training program.

Bergevin M, Bendas A, Bobeuf F, Gentile E, Woznowski-Vu A, Wideman TH, Berryman N, Bherer L, Roy M, Pageaux B

Journal of science and medicine in sport2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2025.07.003 PMID: 40753026

02

Mechanisms Underlying Pain Avoidance in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

Gopalakrishnan R, Malan NS, Sonneborn C, Hogue O, Tankha P, Baillet S, Roy M

European journal of pain (London, England)2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1002/ejp.70339 PMID: 42504856

03

A scoping review of music-based pain treatment mechanism research.

Bradt J, Hirsh A, Jensen MP, Desbarats E, Burns DS, Dusek JA, Garland EL, Georgescu RD, Gumert L, Hanson K, Khawsar J, Smit T, Roy M

Pain reports2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1097/pr9.0000000000001467 PMID: 42495015

04

The Hypoalgesic Effects of Pleasant Music Are Not Fully Explained by Distraction.

Desbarats É, Diushekeeva A, Vogel TA, Roy M

European journal of pain (London, England)2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1002/ejp.70372 PMID: 42695150

05

Perceived pleasantness mediates the effects of high-arousal and emotionally complex music on pain.

Desbarats E, Valevicius D, Lépine Lopez A, Vogel TA, Zatorre RJ, Greenberg DM, Roy M

Pain2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000004108 PMID: 42708339

06

Associations Between Past and Current Use of Oral Contraceptives and Fear Regulation.

Davignon LM, Brouillard A, Devine S, Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Roy M, Marin MF

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.09.018 PMID: 41033656

07

Music-based interventions for chronic pain management.

Pando-Naude V, Howlin C, Bradt J, Jespersen K, Roy M, Garza-Villarreal E, Koelsch S, Vuust P

The Cochrane database of systematic reviews2026

DOI: 10.1002/14651858.cd016354 PMID: 42138335

08

The effect of a multimodal exercise program on paraspinal muscle morphology and clinical outcomes in chronic low back pain.

Rosenstein B, Bergevin M, Bobeuf F, Bherer L, Pageaux B, Roy M, Fortin M

Isokinetics and exercise science2026

DOI: 10.1177/09593020261419928 PMID: 42093855

09

Stress Characteristics and Their Associations With Pain Intensity: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

Ghoussoub K, Gagnon-Mailhot M, Develay É, Rainville P, Lupien S, Dassieu L, Roy M, Vachon-Presseau É, Pagé MG

European journal of pain (London, England)2026

DOI: 10.1002/ejp.70240 PMID: 41742390

10

Altered cortical alpha modulations and connectivity in complex regional pain syndrome.

Malan NS, Baillet S, Tankha P, Roy M, Gopalakrishnan R

The journal of pain2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2025.105595 PMID: 41207412

Neuroimmune responses to physical exercise training in chronic low back pain

SupervisorCIHR2025Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program

Principal investigators: Gevers Montoro, Carlos

Keywords: Chronic Pain; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Heart Rate Variability; Immune Response; Inflammation; Medial Prefrontal Cortex; Neuroimmune; Physical Exercise Training; Transcriptomics; Vagus Nerve

$140,000

Developing inclusive, ethical, and responsible markers for chronic pain conditions

Co-investigatorCIHR2024Project Grant

Principal investigators: Vachon-Presseau, Etienne

Keywords: Chronic Pain; Machine Learning; Mri Biomarkers; Race/Ethnicity; Risk Score; Sex/Gender

$623,475

Development and performance of a model combining a polygenic risk score and biopsychosocial measures to predict the transition of acute to chronic low back pain

Co-investigatorCIHR2023Project Grant

Principal investigators: Beraldo Meloto, Carolina; Grant, Audrey V

Keywords: Acute-To-Chronic Transition; Biopsychosocial Factors; Genetic Variants; Large Scale Cohorts; Low Back Pain; Polygenic Risk Score

$596,700

KEEPING PAIN OUT OF MIND: HOW DOES PAIN COMPETE WITH OTHER ACTIVITIES FOR ACCESS TO CONSCIOUSNESS?

Principal investigatorNSERC2023Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Roy, Mathieu

Keywords: Attention; Brain Imaging; Cognition; Flow; Motivation; Pain

$102,000

Canada Research Chair - Tier 2

Nominated PICIHR2023Canada Research Chairs - CIHR Funded - Tier 2

Principal investigators: Roy, Mathieu

Keywords: Crc

$500,000

Brain Imaging of Experimental Pain

Principal investigatorNSERC2023Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: Roy, Mathieu

$135,514

Testing the presence and genetic predictors of stronger placebo effect of personalised treatments

Principal investigatorSSHRC2022Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Roy, Mathieu

Keywords: expectations; contextual factors; social factors; precision medicine; placebo effect

$18,677

Testing the presence and genetic predictors of stronger placebo effect of personalised treatments

Principal investigatorSSHRC2022Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Roy, Mathieu

Keywords: expectations; contextual factors; social factors; precision medicine; placebo effect

$29,502

The neural activation associated with pain modulation through flow experience

SupervisorCIHR2022CIHR Fellowship

Principal investigators: Deldar, Zoha

Keywords: Cognition; Cognitive Pain Inhibition; Flow Experince; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Motivation; Pain Perception; Reward

$90,000

Investigating the role of the mesolimbic dopamine reward system in music-induced analgesia

Nominated PICIHR2022Project Grant

Principal investigators: Roy, Mathieu

Keywords: Brain Imaging; Dopamine; Music; Pain; Reward

$508,725

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Psychology
Centre de recherche
Neurology and Neurosurgery
Family Medicine
Rehabilitation Science
Psychiatry
Department of Surgery
Other

1 shared papers, latest 2025

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their NSERC grant from 2023

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Crc Dear Professor Roy, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Unraveling the pain trajectory in chronic low back pain patients during a physical exercise training program." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your NSERC-funded project "KEEPING PAIN OUT OF MIND: HOW DOES PAIN COMPETE WITH OTHER ACTIVITIES FOR ACCESS TO CONSCIOUSNESS?" (2023), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]