Mission Statement

The Ikonomou lab is a basic research lab at the Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University at Buffalo. The focus of our multidisciplinary research lies at the interface of developmental biology, stem cell biology and engineering with particular interest in developing cell-based therapies for lung and thyroid diseases. Our research program spans several thematic areas from understanding the biology of foregut progenitors to engineering in vitro biomimetic niches for lung and thyroid progenitor specification, patterning and differentiation. The philosophy guiding our research is that regenerative medicine applications based on solid biological and engineering principles will be successful in the long term.