Welcome to the Mourkioti Lab
Tissue regeneration remains one of the greatest unsolved challenges in biology and medicine. We seek to uncover the biological principles that enable adult stem cells to build, maintain, and regenerate tissues, and to translate those principles into transformative therapies for degenerative disease.
Skeletal and cardiac muscle provide exceptional experimental systems for uncovering general principles of stem cell biology because they combine lifelong regenerative capacity with clinically important regenerative failure in aging and disease. Our research integrates stem cell biology, genetics, mechanobiology, tissue engineering, advanced imaging, and disease models to understand how tissues maintain their integrity, respond to injury, and ultimately fail.
Our long-term vision is to establish a fundamental framework for regenerative biology by defining how adult stem cells preserve tissue homeostasis and harnessing these principles to advance regenerative medicine.Our Mission
Our mission is to discover the biological principles that govern muscle regeneration and to translate those discoveries into therapies for human disease. We pursue ambitious, rigorous, and collaborative science that advances our understanding of skeletal muscle biology while creating new opportunities for regenerative medicine.
Equally important is our commitment to training the next generation of scientists. We foster a collaborative environment where curiosity, scientific rigor, mentorship, and teamwork enable every member of the laboratory to develop into an independent and creative investigator.
Research Focus
Our laboratory addresses fundamental questions at the interface of stem cell biology, regeneration, aging, and disease. Current areas of investigation include:
- Muscle stem cell biology – How do muscle stem cells maintain tissue homeostasis and coordinate regeneration after injury?
- Mechanobiology and aging – How do mechanical signals and the tissue microenvironment regulate stem cell function, and why does regeneration decline with age?
- Muscular dystrophy and muscle disease – What cellular and molecular mechanisms drive muscle degeneration, and how can they be therapeutically targeted?
- Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering – How can engineering approaches and disease models be used to restore muscle function and accelerate tissue repair?
Through these complementary research programs, we seek to generate discoveries that not only advance basic biological knowledge but also lay the foundation for future therapies for muscular dystrophies, age-associated muscle loss, and other degenerative diseases.
Employment Opportunities
We are always interested in meeting outstanding scientists who are passionate about stem cell biology, muscle regeneration, aging, regenerative medicine, and translational research.
Postdoctoral Fellows: Applicants should email to Foteini Mourkioti with a cover letter describing their research interests, a curriculum vitae, and the contact information for three references.
Graduate Students: We welcome rotation students from affiliated graduate programs at the University of Pennsylvania. Rotation projects are designed to provide meaningful scientific experiences while exposing students to state-of-the-art approaches in stem cell biology, genetics, mechanobiology, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Students interested in joining the laboratory are encouraged to contact Dr. Mourkioti (email) to discuss potential rotation opportunities.
Prospective students who are not yet enrolled at Penn should first apply through one of our affiliated graduate programs, including the Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Program or the Bioengineering Graduate Program.: