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
Big cheers to Loreilys!
December 05, 2025
Warmest congratulations to Loreilys for being selected for a poster talk at the PMI Symposium. She gave a presentation that was both detailed and concise.
Mourkioti LaboratoryShore Laboratory
Congrats to Ji-Hyung!
December 05, 2025
Ji-Hyung delivered a great talk at the PMI Symposium, presenting the main work from his postdoctoral research in the Mourkioti Lab.
Mourkioti Laboratory
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
Follow us on Twitter @McKayLaboratory
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