Dr. McCain’s group leverages techniques in tissue engineering to understand mechanisms of development and disease on the cell and tissue level. They develop and utilize tools that can probe structure-function relationships in engineered cells and tissues across multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Stories

Lines of green fluorescent protein (GFP) show cells lighting up red and turning into muscle cells on the GFP scaffold. (Image by Mher Garibyan); featured image for A green light to build muscle cells on command

A green light to build muscle cells on command

It may sound like something from science fiction. To grow and modify muscle tissue in the lab using technology that shapes the muscle cells, blood vessels and nerves into whatever pattern you …

Building an Incubator for Medicine of the 21st Century; featured image for Building an Incubator for Medicine of the 21st Century

Building an Incubator for Medicine of the 21st Century

USC Stem Cell is pleased to introduce our new publication. We hope you’ll enjoy reflecting back on our history, while looking ahead to the transformative times to come. Read now at https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/wp-content/themes/stemcell/incubator.

(Photo courtesy of Megan Rexius-Hall); featured image for Saving lives: Heart attack on a chip

Saving lives: Heart attack on a chip

Megan McCain has always enjoyed building and fixing things. She also has long been fascinated by cells in the human body and how they work together to achieve important tasks, like how …

Kuo-Chang (Ted) Tseng from the Crump Lab and Michelle Hung from the Ichida Lab enjoy a beachside brainstorm.; featured image for Scientists feel the sand between their toes at the retreat for USC’s stem cell department

Scientists feel the sand between their toes at the retreat for USC’s stem cell department

A pair of young scientists picked up a piece of driftwood and thoughtfully traced a series of letters in the wet sand of Ventura Beach. The word “microglia”—referring to the immune cells …

USC VITERBI’S RECENTLY NAMED ALFRED E. MANN DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING IS HOME TO 75 PRIMARY AND AFFILIATED FACULTY, DRIVING CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH FROM BIOMEDICAL DEVICES TO NEURAL ENGINEERING TO MOLECULAR BIOENGINEERING.; featured image for $35 million gift: Era of the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering begins

$35 million gift: Era of the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering begins

In 1976, the United States celebrated its’ 200th birthday, and USC’s department of biomedical engineering was born. Nearly 50 years later, that department has a name: the Alfred E. Mann Department of …

Neurons and muscle; featured image for Skeletal muscle grown in a dish offers new insight for neuromuscular diseases

Skeletal muscle grown in a dish offers new insight for neuromuscular diseases

Neuromuscular diseases are debilitating and mostly incurable, affecting 160 out of every 100,000 people worldwide. Disorders such as ALS and multiple sclerosis impact the function of muscles, causing muscle wastage and loss …

Megan McCain and family; featured image for USC Professor Megan McCain crafts an approach to tissue engineering

USC Professor Megan McCain crafts an approach to tissue engineering

Megan McCain has always liked using her hands to create things, ranging from art projects to human heart cells that grow on silicon chips. “I’ve always loved building things and doing crafts, …

Dion Dickman, Megan McCain, and Justin Ichida; featured image for Scientists Justin Ichida and Dion Dickman: USC’s coolest tenured professors from Hawaii

Scientists Justin Ichida and Dion Dickman: USC’s coolest tenured professors from Hawaii

Now that Justin Ichida and Dion Dickman are both tenured professors at USC, they no longer have to worry about who was the coolest kid in their elementary schools back in Honolulu. …

Brain organoid; featured image for Brain development and disorder research receives $1.5 million NSF boost

Brain development and disorder research receives $1.5 million NSF boost

The human brain is an incredibly complex organ to study in its living tissue form. Researchers cannot experiment on human tissue directly, and animal models are often too different to human physiology …

Megan McCain and friends; featured image for Megan McCain is one of six USC Viterbi faculty to win NSF CAREER Award

Megan McCain is one of six USC Viterbi faculty to win NSF CAREER Award

A record six assistant professors at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering — Megan McCain, Department of Biomedical Engineering; Mitul Luhar, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engienering; Aleksandra Korolova and Haipeng Luo, Department of Computer Science; and Daniel …

Megan McCain (Photo by Michelle Henry); featured image for How to mend a broken heart, if you’re a zebrafish

How to mend a broken heart, if you’re a zebrafish

Cut a zebrafish’s heart and something remarkable happens. Within seconds, the fish clots the wound and stops the bleeding. Cells start to divide to make new heart muscle and blood vessels. Two …

Junior faculty (Photo by Sergio Bianco); featured image for USC Stem Cell junior faculty balance babies with biomedical research

USC Stem Cell junior faculty balance babies with biomedical research

Growing stem cells isn’t just something junior faculty do in the lab. Eight of the junior faculty in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine recently welcomed new babies into …

The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Symposium sparked collaborations. (Photo by Sergio Bianco); featured image for USC researchers converge at the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Symposium

USC researchers converge at the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Symposium

“The field of stem cell biology is one of our great convergence opportunities,” said USC Provost Michael Quick, addressing an audience of biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers, clinicians and many others. This diverse …

Note to self (Photo by Sergio Bianco); featured image for At the retreat for USC’s stem cell department, the students become the masters

At the retreat for USC’s stem cell department, the students become the masters

Students and trainees took center stage at the annual retreat for USC’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. They presented their latest research to the 180 stem cell scientists who …

Kidney (Image by Lori O'Brien/Andy McMahon Lab, illustration by Mira Nameth)

Growing hope: New organs? Not yet, but stem cell research is getting closer

If you lose a limb, it’s lost for life. If you damage a kidney, you won’t grow a new one. And if you have a heart attack, the scars are there to …

Joycelyn Yip says she wishes she could have five different careers. (Photo by Susanica Tam); featured image for Creating new heart muscle out of stem cells? This grad student is doing it

Creating new heart muscle out of stem cells? This grad student is doing it

In a narrow room not much larger than a closet, Joycelyn Yip reaches behind a glass shield to lower a pipette to a plate of silicon-coated glass. Swaddled in a sterile white …

From left, Gio Suh and Lauren Ekman (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for Countdown to Commencement: Gio Suh builds muscles without exercising

Countdown to Commencement: Gio Suh builds muscles without exercising

“I’ve always wanted to be in a textbook and impact the world,” said Gio Suh, who is graduating in December 2017 from the master of science program in stem cell biology and …

Larry Goldstein, the director of the stem cell program at the University of California, San Diego, and keynote speaker at the retreat for USC’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for Scientists get into detail at the retreat for USC’s stem cell department

Scientists get into detail at the retreat for USC’s stem cell department

“The process of disease is about detail,” said Larry Goldstein, the director of the stem cell program at the University of California, San Diego, and keynote speaker at the retreat for USC’s …

From left, Gage Crump, Min Yu, Yang Chai, Joseph T. Rodgers and Denis Evseenko—all faculty in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine—led a panel discussion about “Preparing for the faculty job market.” (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for The faculty job search just got easier, thanks to two USC Stem Cell postdocs

The faculty job search just got easier, thanks to two USC Stem Cell postdocs

“I think we’re all here for the same reason,” said Michaela Patterson, a postdoc in the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. “We’re considering …

Megan McCain (Photo by Will Taylor); featured image for Megan McCain appointed to Chonette Early Career Chair

Megan McCain appointed to Chonette Early Career Chair

Megan McCain, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, has been honored with the Chonette Early Career Chair at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. As an …