News & Events

Digestion and Metabolism News
Impromptu McMahon lab meeting; featured image for USC honors stem cell leader Andy McMahon with a lifetime achievement award

USC honors stem cell leader Andy McMahon with a lifetime achievement award

The award recognizes McMahon’s career advancing developmental biology and building scientific communities, including USC Stem Cell. As a pioneer in developmental biology and founder of USC Stem Cell, Andy McMahon, PhD, FRS, …

Red indicates mouse embryonic stem cells and green indicates mouse epiblast stem cells. The two cell types were co-cultured under GSK3α inhibition and maintained their distinct identities. (Image by Duo Wang/Ying Lab/USC Stem Cell); featured image for A “stemness checkpoint” helps control stem cell identity

A “stemness checkpoint” helps control stem cell identity

Building on the concept that blocking differentiation into specialized cell types maintains stem cells, USC and NIH scientists identify GSK3α as a checkpoint across diverse stem cell types. A study published in …

The new joint department will accelerate health care innovation. (USC Photos); featured image for USC announces joint biomedical engineering department, bridging medical and engineering schools

USC announces joint biomedical engineering department, bridging medical and engineering schools

Building on decades of collaboration between the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the department reimagines the expansion of biomedical engineering into medicine. The Keck …

Concept art depicts a cross-section of the intestine, its folds interwoven with leafy forms symbolizing the complex and dynamic microbial ecosystem within. Surrounding the gut are ovarian histology images spanning different ages, representing the progressive structural changes that accompany ovarian aging. Together, the imagery reflects the bidirectional dialogue between the gut and the ovary and highlights the potential of the microbiome as a lever to reshape the trajectory of reproductive aging. (Illustration by Rapheal Williams, Benayoun Laboratory); featured image for Fecal transplants from older mice significantly improve ovarian function and fertility in younger mice

Fecal transplants from older mice significantly improve ovarian function and fertility in younger mice

The surprising findings shed light on the little-known relationship between the microbiome and the reproductive system. Greater understanding could lead to better treatment options not only for fertility but also for overall …

Megan McCain's lab (Photo by Chris Shinn)

USC launches a new Center for Stem Cell Engineering on the Health Sciences Campus

A collaboration between the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the center will use stem cell engineering to uncover disease mechanisms and advance new therapies. …

The National Institute on Aging has awarded a $6.5 million, five-year grant to Cedars-Sinai, USC and UCLA to create the Los Angeles Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. (USC Photo/Nat Avunjian); featured image for New NIA-funded center to help older adults live longer, healthier lives

New NIA-funded center to help older adults live longer, healthier lives

A new Los Angeles research hub will take on one of today’s most pressing challenges: helping people live not just longer, but healthier and more independent lives as they age. The National …

Embryonic stem cells from a Barred Plymouth Rock chicken (Image by Xi Chen/Ying Lab/USC Stem Cell); featured image for USC Stem Cell-led study generates authentic embryonic stem cells from birds

USC Stem Cell-led study generates authentic embryonic stem cells from birds

Scientists discover that egg yolk is a key to establishing authentic embryonic stem cells from chickens and seven other avian species, as reported in Nature Biotechnology. Egg whites may be perfect for …

; featured image for USC Stem Cell students and trainees win $15,000 collaborative research grants

USC Stem Cell students and trainees win $15,000 collaborative research grants

When learning to become a great scientist, the most important lesson might be how to collaborate. To encourage this essential skill, for the past decade, USC Stem Cell has awarded one-year challenge …

Alex Qiuyu Guo (Photo courtesy of Alex Qiuyu Guo); featured image for Meet USC’s CIRM Scholar Alumni: Alex Qiuyu Guo, Senior Scientist for Discovery Biomarkers at Amgen

Meet USC’s CIRM Scholar Alumni: Alex Qiuyu Guo, Senior Scientist for Discovery Biomarkers at Amgen

Although Alex Qiuyu Guo is now Senior Scientist for Discovery Biomarkers at Amgen, he admits that he didn’t start off being devoted to science. “I was more interested in history,” said Guo, …

Vivian Medina (Photo courtesy of Vivian Medina); featured image for Meet USC’s CIRM Scholar Alumni: Vivian Medina, Senior Manager of Digital and Data Analytics at Takeda

Meet USC’s CIRM Scholar Alumni: Vivian Medina, Senior Manager of Digital and Data Analytics at Takeda

As the Senior Manager of Digital and Data Analytics at Takeda in Los Angeles, Vivian Medina pursues her career in science with the ultimate goal of helping people. A lifelong Angeleno whose …

Pinchas Cohen; featured image for Gerontology Dean Pinchas Cohen named senior member of the National Academy of Inventors

Gerontology Dean Pinchas Cohen named senior member of the National Academy of Inventors

Cohen, an expert on mitochondrial microproteins and their therapeutic potential for diseases related to aging, holds several patents for novel peptides. Pinchas Cohen, Dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, …

Illustration of man lifting weights by a refrigerator (Illustrations by Drue Wagner); featured image for Turn back the clock on aging

Turn back the clock on aging

There’s no way to stop the march of time, but innovative research by USC scholars points the way to a longer, healthier and more vibrant life. About 10 years ago, when George …

Illustrations by Doug Chayka; featured image for Cell by cell: Rebuilding the body

Cell by cell: Rebuilding the body

USC researchers are revolutionizing how we treat disease by harnessing stem cells as “living medicine.” Anyone who’s healed from a cut or a scrape has witnessed the incredible regenerative power of stem …

Pinchas Cohen (left) in the lab (Photo courtesy of the USC Davis School of Gerontology); featured image for A powerhouse of innovation

A powerhouse of innovation

How a serendipitous discovery led by Pinchas Cohen more than 20 years ago opened a new chapter in biology and made the USC Leonard Davis School a leading force in unraveling the …

Laura Perin in the lab (image courtesy of CHLA); featured image for Fasting-mimicking diet restores kidney function in study

Fasting-mimicking diet restores kidney function in study

Diet intervention revives kidney function in preclinical animal models and in patients with chronic kidney disease. In patients with chronic kidney disease, the loss of podocytes—part of the kidney’s glomerular filtration barrier—causes …

From right, Dean Carolyn Meltzer, Senta Georgia, and Charles (Chuck) Murry (Photo courtesy of Charles (Chuck) Murry); featured image for Keck School of Medicine celebrates faculty achievements at annual awards ceremony

Keck School of Medicine celebrates faculty achievements at annual awards ceremony

The 2024 Faculty Awards and Recognition Ceremony was a night of recognition and reflection as Dean Carolyn C. Meltzer, the Keck School Faculty Council and the Office of Faculty Affairs, Advancement, and …

Charles (Chuck) Murry (Photo by Gavin Sisk/ University of Washington); featured image for USC Stem Cell welcomes new leader, renowned physician-scientist Chuck Murry

USC Stem Cell welcomes new leader, renowned physician-scientist Chuck Murry

Charles (Chuck) Murry, MD, PhD, has been appointed as the next head of USC Stem Cell. In that capacity, he will be the chair of the Department of Stem Cell Biology and …

New pilot grants will forge collaborations between researchers at Keck School of Medicine of USC and the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering. (Image courtesy of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering); featured image for Forging research partnerships for future medical breakthroughs

Forging research partnerships for future medical breakthroughs

New Mann Engineering in Medicine Pilot Grants program will build ongoing research collaborations between USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Keck School of Medicine of USC. The lifesaving medical discoveries and therapeutics …

Pinchas Cohen; featured image for Pinchas Cohen named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Pinchas Cohen named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

AAAS recognized Cohen for “distinguished contributions to the fields of aging research and molecular biology, particularly using mitochondrial peptides to study possible therapeutic benefits for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases related to …

Linda Sher; featured image for USC surgeon-scientist Linda Sher receives $2.7 million CIRM grant to develop and test immunologically modified and humanized swine livers

USC surgeon-scientist Linda Sher receives $2.7 million CIRM grant to develop and test immunologically modified and humanized swine livers

In 1992, Linda Sher was part of a surgical team at Cedars-Sinai that transplanted a pig liver into a human patient for the first time in the history of medicine. The pig …