Professor Darek Gorecki
Biography
Darek Gorecki was born in Warsaw, Poland where he read medicine and obtained his PhD. His key research interest is pathogenesis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He started research in this area as a post-doctoral fellow in the Molecular Neurobiology Unit, University of Cambridge under Professor Eric A Barnard, FRS. He continued it at the Royal Free & University College Medical School in London working as a research fellow and later obtained a personal Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship. After moving to his present laboratory in Portsmouth he has worked as a Senior Lecturer, Reader and, since 2007, Professor of Molecular Medicine. He is the Director of Research in the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences. In 2011 he won Distinguished Fulbright Scholarship to work at Harvard Medical School, USA researching the role of specific ATP receptors in muscular dystrophy.
For more information about my research please visit my lab page.
Research interests
Pathogenesis and treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, role of the dystrophin complex in the brain, purinoceptors, gene therapy using non-viral vectors.
Research outputs
2025
Anti-breast cancer effects of a novel derivative of biopigment from Serratia marcescens evoked by mitochondrial pathway-mediated apoptosis
Liu, M., Wu, S., Zhang, J., Yang, J., Chen, J., Górecki, D. C., Zeng, Z.
1 Nov 2025, In: Biochemical Pharmacology. 241, 15p., 117123
Research output: Article
Tauroursodeoxycholic acid-induced increase in ectopic muscle mineralization occurs exclusively in dystrophic muscles and is independent of endoplasmic reticulum stress
Róg, J., Dymkowska, D., Michalska, B., Krupska, O., Milewski, K., Matryba, P., Wolny, A., Pawłowska, M., Bożycki, Ł., Stępnik, D., Górecki, D. C., Zabłocki, K.
28 Oct 2025, In: Scientific Reports. 15, 1, 16p., 37704
Research output: Article
Differential effect of P2X7 receptors on proliferation and migration of human keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts
Soszyńska, M., Komorowski, M., Łuszczyński, K., Radziszewski, M., Krześniak, N., Shevchenko, K., Górecki, D. C., Malejczyk, J., Ścieżyńska, A.
3 Sep 2025, In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 26, 17, 12p., 8548
Research output: Article
Deficient astrocyte homeostatic support contributes to brain impairment in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Gorecki, D. C., Patel, A. M., Pomeroy, J., Verkhratsky, A.
1 Aug 2025, In: Neurochemical Research. 50, 4, 18p., 213
Research output: Article
Is dystrophin immunogenicity a barrier to advancing gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy?
Górecki, D. C., Kalinski, P., Pomeroy, J.
3 Apr 2025, In: Gene Therapy
Research output: Article
Spatiotemporal diversity in molecular and functional abnormalities in the mdx dystrophic brain
Pomeroy, J., Borczyk, M., Kawalec, M., Hajto, J., Carlson, E., Svärd, S., Verma, S., Bareke, E., Boratyńska-Jasińska, A., Dymkowska, D., Mellado-Ibáñez, A., Laight, D., Zabłocki, K., Occhipinti, A., Majewska, L.,
20 Mar 2025, In: Molecular Medicine. 31, 1, 33p., 108
Research output: Article
2024
Investigating the involvement of C−X−C Motif Chemokine 5 and P2X7 purinoceptor in ectopic calcification in mouse models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Rumney, R. M. H., Pomeroy, J., Górecki, D. C.
1 Aug 2024, In: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. 125, 8, p. 1-11, 11p., e30617
Research output: Article
The P2×7 receptor is a master regulator of microparticle and mitochondria exchange in mouse microglia
Falzoni, S., Vultaggio-Poma, V., Chiozzi, P., Tarantini, M., Adinolfi, E., Boldrini, P., Giuliani, A. L., Morciano, G., Tang, Y., Gorecki, D., Di Virgilio, F.
1 Jul 2024, In: Function. 5, 4, 16p., zqae019
Research output: Article
Differential expression of DMD transcripts as a novel prognostic biomarker in histologically diverse mesotheliomas
Alnassar, N., Derry, J. M. J., Banna, G. L., Gorecki, D. C.
29 Apr 2024, In: Translational Lung Cancer Research. 13, 4, p. 733-748
Research output: Article
2023
Primary mouse myoblast metabotropic purinoceptor profiles and calcium signalling differ with their muscle origin and are altered in mdx dystrophinopathy
Róg, J., Oksiejuk, A., Górecki, D. C., Zabłocki, K.
1 Dec 2023, In: Scientific Reports. 13, 1, 18p., 9333
Research output: Article