George Goodwin receives Versus Arthritis Career Development Award

Dr George Goodwin, a King’s Prize Fellow at the Wolfson Sensory, Pain and Regeneration Centre (SPaRC), has been awarded the Versus Arthritis Career Development Award. The award supports mid-career researchers in the field of arthritis and related musculoskeletal disorders and is funded by Versus Arthritis – the UK’s largest charity dedicated to supporting people with arthritis. His award starts in January 2026 and provides resources to explore the role of silent nociceptors in arthritis pain.

One in six people in the UK have arthritis and live with pain, fatigue, immobility and reduced dexterity. Of all arthritis symptoms, pain has the most significant impact on people’s lives. There is an urgent need to develop better analgesic medications as currently available treatments are not sufficient according to clinical data on the effectiveness and tolerability of painkillers.

One sub-class of joint nerves known as ‘silent nociceptors’ is likely to be very important for signalling arthritis pain. These silent nociceptors do not respond to mechanical stimuli under normal conditions but become responsive following inflammation.

Dr Goodwin has generated a new mouse model that can be used to specifically study these silent nociceptors in rheumatoid- and osteo-arthritis. He has also developed a highly specialised imaging technique for checking the activation of joint nerves to help determine if silent nociceptors are activated in arthritis. Using chemical and pharmacological tools, he will then be able to switch off silent nociceptors and assess whether this reduces pain in the mouse models.

The award will enable Dr Goodwin to build his research team and gain training in microneurography, a specialised technique for recording nerve fibre activity in humans. By incorporating this approach, Dr Goodwin hopes to gain deeper insights into the specific sensory nerve fibres that drive arthritis pain in humans. His findings will be shared with drug companies to help them develop more effective painkillers desperately needed by the millions of individuals with arthritis.

Dr Goodwin added, “I would like to pay tribute to my late mentor, Professor Steve McMahon, who was instrumental in encouraging me to pursue an academic career. His guidance and support were invaluable, and his legacy continues to inspire my work. I am also deeply grateful to my current mentor, Dr Franziska Denk, whose support and expertise have been essential in shaping my research.”