Allison Owen is a faculty member in the Department of Physical Therapy. Dr. Owen completed her Bachelor's in Biology and Chemistry at Franklin College (2012), PhD in Physiology at the University of Kentucky (2017), and her postdoctoral training in Immunometabolism at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (2022). During her graduate work, she explored mechanisms of post-sepsis muscle weakness using a clinically relevant animal model which revealed chronic mitochondrial myopathy among middle-aged murine sepsis survivors. She expanded her expertise to the field of immunology during her postdoctoral training where she identified signaling mechanisms which drive Toll-like receptor mediated trained immunity in macrophages, with a special interest in metabolic reprogramming. In 2022, Dr. Owen returned to UK as an Assistant Professor (Research Title Series) in Dr. Christopher Fry's lab (Department of Athletic Training and Clinical Nutrition) where she interrogated pathological mechanisms after traumatic ligament injury which contribute to skeletal muscle dysfunction and post-traumatic osteoarthritis. In 2024, Dr. Owen accepted a position as an Assistant Professor (Regular Title Series) in the Department of Physical Therapy, where she is also a member of the Center for Muscle Biology. Her lab seeks to elucidate the molecular underpinnings of skeletal muscle dysfunction consequent of critical illness, such as sepsis or burn trauma. Her current work focuses on exploring immunoregulatory factors as drivers of poor muscle quality and unveil their potential as therapeutic targets to improve muscle function among survivors. To explore these themes, Dr. Owen's lab leverages several experimental models including animal models, ex vivo cell culture, and patient-derived samples to conduct comprehensive analyses spanning functional to molecular levels. Outside of her research, she enjoys hiking with her husband and German Shepherds, baking, and (attempting to) tend her vegetable garden and chickens.