My capstone poster will detail the research project I conducted with Ian Palanga for the class “Research in Immunology” taught by Dr. Elena Tonc during the Spring of 2025. Provoked Vulvodynia is a chronic pain condition characterized by increased sensitivity to touch on vulvar tissues (external genitalia surrounding the vagina). This condition has been epidemiologically associated with the frequent use of chemicals such as household cleaners or hairstyling products, both of which often contain the preservative Methylisothiazolinone (MI). A model of provoked vulvodynia using a lab irritant (oxazolone) as the trigger for the allergic reaction which initiates this chronic pain response has shown an increase in the CGRP+ (a protein implicated in pain signaling) innervation of the treated labial tissue. Our lab’s model, which uses MI as the irritant, has not yet shown that change in innervation. Ian and I hypothesized that the increased CGRP+ innervation from the oxazolone model of provoked vulvodynia would also be present in the MI model of the condition. To investigate this we used an established mouse model of provoked vulvodynia with MI as the irritant and conducted immunohistochemistry (IHC) of the labial tissue to image and quantify the amount of CGRP+ innervation. From this procedure we had inconclusive results about CGRP+ innervation in the MI model of provoked vulvodynia and future research into this topic is recommended.