Welcome to McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory
The McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory is looking to hire an Assistant Professor on the Tenure Track! For more information please visit click the link.
https://www.med.upenn.edu/orl/join-us-position.html
A program in orthopaedic research at the University of Pennsylvania was established in 1960, and in 1979 the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory officially opened, establishing all of the orthopaedic research laboratories in the same physical location. Currently, the McKay Lab is a thriving, multidisciplinary facility that occupies more than 22,000 square feet of space in Stemmler Hall in the Perelman School of Medicine. Our multi-faceted research programs involve the participation of more than 120 research personnel from 17 distinct laboratories. Research expenditures in McKay total more than $15,000,000 per annum, supported largely through extramural funding including grants from the National Institutes of Health, Veteran's Administration, other governmental agencies, private foundations, and industry. We are consistently ranked in the top 5 among Orthopaedic Departments nationally in terms of NIH funding. Our overall mission is to conduct high quality fundamental and translational research and to train the next generation of leaders in our field. Moreover, the McKay Lab serves as the focal point for the NIH-supported Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders, a university-wide Center that provides resources and a forum for scientific exchange through annual symposia, a year-long seminar series, a pilot grant program and other activities.
McKay Laboratory News
Gullbrand Lab Attends PSRS 2025 and Matthew Fainor Wins 2nd Best Podium Presentation
November 07, 2025
The Gullbrand Lab journeyed to the University of Delaware today to present at the 2025 Philadelphia Spine Research Symposium. Dr. Harvey Smith kicked off the last session of the day "Bench to Bedside - Translational Spine Research" with his keynote detailing the progress we've made developing the eDAPS total intervertebral disc replacement and TARPS annular patch therapies. PhD student Matthew Fainor presented his research project "IL-1 Does Not Exacerbate Cell Death in a Large-Scale Tissue-Engineered Intervertebral Disc" for which he won second best podium presentation. Janai Augustin and Brianna Orozco also presented their research during the poster session. A big thank you to Dr. Gullbrand for co-organizing this year's event alongside our longtime collaborator Dr. Tom Schaer!
Gullbrand Laboratory
Congratulations to Dr. Ashley Fung, Stephanie Weiss, Courtney Nuss, William Yen, Dr. Volk, Dr. Dyment, and Dr. Soslowsky!
October 29, 2025
Congratulations to Ashley, Steph, Courtney, Will, Dr. Volk, Dr. Dyment, and Dr. Soslowsky for their manuscript, "Collagen XII Plays a More Prominent Cell-Mediated Role in Tendon Organization Compared to Matrix Assembly During Postnatal Development" which was accepted for publication in the FASEB Journal!
Soslowsky Laboratory
Dr. Gullbrand, Brianna Orozco, and Janai Augustin present at Albert Einstein
October 22, 2025
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine invited Dr. Sarah Gullbrand to present some of our lab's work at the 14th Annual Musculoskeletal Repair and Regeneration Symposium alongside our collaborator Robby Bowles in a session dedicated to intervertebral disc degeneration and therapies. Master's student Brianna Orozco and PhD student Janai Augustin also attended and presented their research at the poster session characterizing the intricate relationships between intervertebral disc degeneration and adjacent tissue remodeling.
Gullbrand Laboratory
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IN THE NEWS:
Congratulations to the new Penn Medicine Achilles Tendon Research Center and the Center founding Director Dr. Lou Soslowsky. See article at Penn Medicine News
February 7, 2023 - Penn Almanac Press Release
Congratulations to the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory for being Ranked #1 in 2021 for NIH Funding. See article at Penn Medicine News