Piotr Konieczny

Piotr Konieczny is a Polish scientist known for his work studying inflammation, tissue repair, and regeneration in the context of immune-epithelial interactions. He is an Assistant Professor of Developmental and Cell Biology at the University of California, Irvine with joint appointment in the Department of Dermatology at UC Irvine School of Medicine. He is also a member of the UCI Skin Center, UCI Institute for Immunology, and the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Career and research

Following graduate school, he moved to the United States for a postdoctoral fellowship in Shruti Naik's laboratory, initially at NYU Langone Health and later at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. During his postdoctoral training, he identified novel immunological factors that regulate cellular adaptation to hypoxia during tissue repair. These findings have implications for research in cellular adaptation in a range of damage-associated diseases, including non-healing wounds, cancers, and inflammatory conditions, such as psoriasis.

In 2025, he joined the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology at the University of California, Irvine, as an Assistant Professor. Konieczny's lab focuses on cellular dynamics within epithelial barrier tissues to uncover how environmental factors influence health and drive disease at these critical interfaces. His lab employs an interdisciplinary approach integrating stem cell and endothelial biology, immunology, and cancer biology with cutting-edge technologies to holistically examine cellular network dynamics during tissue regeneration and inflammation. This research is essential for developing effective strategies to prevent and manage maladaptive tissue responses to damage.

In 2024, he was named a finalist for the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Prize for Creative Innovation and was the 2022 Sheehan Foundation Young Innovator in Tissue Regeneration. He has received several awards, including the 2023 National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award, the National Psoriasis Foundation Early Career Research Award, the Research Award for Young Researchers from the European Society for Dermatological Research, and the Etiuda Fellowship from the Polish National Science Center.

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