RE-JOIN
The Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative, is using several approaches to improve treatment for the millions of Americans who experience chronic pain, including that which affects joints. In particular, the Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain (RE-JOIN) Consortium is using cutting-edge technology to expand our understanding of pain signaling in joints through a comprehensive characterization of sensory neurons (nerve cells) that allow us to feel pain. RE-JOIN scientists are focusing on two joints that often create chronic pain: the knee and the jaw, or temporomandibular (TMJ) joint.
The RE-JOIN Data Coordinating Group (DCG) is funded in part by the NIH Common Fund’s SPARC Program and from the HEAL Initiative to support the RE-JOIN consortium in sharing integrated datasets on SPARC to generate models of sensory innervation of joints.
Learn more about HEAL Initiative data on SPARC
Who We Are
The RE-JOIN Consortium consists of five, multisite research projects working together to map the network of sensory nerves that mediate pain sensation in the two joints of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and the knee. This research aims to understand how these types and patterns of sensory neuron networks change in joints with disease and aging.
SPARC RESEARCH WEBINAR SERIES
The SPARC Research Webinar Series is planned as a set of webinars presented by research teams who have contributed their research - data or models - to the Portal.
February 18, 2025
Knee and jaw pain experts collaborated to create standardized pain measures for joint pain. These measures can be included in the HEAL Common Data Elements for any study focusing on joint pain, allowing for harmonized datasets across studies.
This review article authored by S.k. Perry, J.J. Emmrick and the REJOIN Consortium in Frontiers in Pain Research was published May 2024.
A detailed protocol for optical, aqueous-based clearing of adult murine tissues using EZ Clear.
