RE-JOIN research project receives $1.4 million extension to advance joint pain research

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Ann Arbor, Mich., November 4, 2025 – A research team co-led by University of Michigan School of Dentistry faculty member Joshua Emrick has received substantial extended funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), paving the way for significant advancements in joint pain research.

Emrick’s team, including his U-M collaborator Dawen Cai, Crosby-Kahn Collegiate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and associate professor in Biophysics at the U-M Medical School, will receive $1.4 million in additional support over the next two years, the NIH announced last month.

Emrick, an assistant professor of dentistry in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics, is part of the Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain Consortium, or RE-JOIN. The consortium, formed in 2022, consists of five U.S.-based research teams working together to map the network of sensory nerves that connect to two joints: the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), better known as the jaw joint, and the knee. The anatomical and functional map of the nerves in mice and humans will allow researchers to determine the origin of underlying problems and pain with the TMJ and knee.  RE-JOIN data will be shared with the broader scientific community.  

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Now, with the new support, Emrick and Cai will continue experiments designed to uncover the processes that underlie chronic joint pain. The team’s previous work, using state-of-the-art imaging and mouse models, has already begun to produce critical insights and detailed maps of sensory neurons innervating the TMJ tissues. Ultimately, the collective work may inform clinical trials and better pain treatments.

“Our long-term goal as a consortium is to use discovery in fundamental research to drive practical therapies for joint pain,” Emrick said. “Our goal to define the complex network of nerves in our joints is ambitious, but the opportunity to collaborate and compare our work within the consortium is accelerating our progress. It’s all a crucial foundation for better pain management strategies.”  

In addition to advancing basic science and clinical possibilities, the extended funding supports a key NIH objective: training and mentoring the next generation of research scientists. By providing hands-on research education opportunities within the RE-JOIN project, Emrick and Cai’s team are helping to fulfill the NIH’s commitment to cultivating scientific talent and expertise for the future.

Emrick is one of three Principal Investigators on a team co-led by Christopher Donnelly, an assistant professor in Anesthesiology at the Duke University School of Medicine. Donnelly is a U-M alumnus who earned his dual DDS-PhD degrees at the School of Dentistry in 2018. The RE-JOIN project continues as part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative (HEAL), an ambitious effort to accelerate scientific solutions addressing pain and opioid addiction nationwide. The additional funding not only recognizes the team’s achievements to date, but also underscores the importance of their work to the broader goals of improving pain management and speeding scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis.

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The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral healthcare education, research, patient care and community service.  General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the school to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan.  Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia and public agencies.  Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide.  For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu.  Email: dentistry.communications@umich.edu, or (734) 615-1971.