News
Meet three students from USC’s master’s program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine
The 34 students in USC’s master’s program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine have at least two things in common. First, they’re smart, with an average incoming GPA of 3.4. And second, they all seemed to enjoy the boba tea served at this year’s Student Orientation at the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center …
USC finds new routes to industry engagement and funding
Story courtesy of In-Part Over the last year, Dr. Qing Liu-Michael, Program Director at USC Stem Cell and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the University of Southern California (USC), has been using IN-PART’s Discover service to find new streams of collaboration with companies proactively seeking academic …
Breakthrough in testosterone-producing cells could lead to treatment for “low T”
USC researchers have successfully grown human, testosterone-producing cells in the lab, paving the way to someday treat low testosterone with personalized replacement cells. In Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists describe how they transformed stem cells into functioning Leydig cells — the cells in the testes that produce the male sex hormone. “Our …
NIH grant awarded to Bangyan Stiles and colleagues
Bangyan Stiles, PhD, professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences at the USC School of Pharmacy, and colleagues from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering were awarded a three-year, $636,141 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for the project “Robust Inference in the Presence of Data Heterogeneity and Structured Missing Data.” Sze-chuan Suen, PhD and Meisam …
USC brings the world’s largest stem cell conference to Los Angeles
For the first time ever, the City of Los Angeles hosted the world’s largest stem cell conference. By choosing Los Angeles as the host city for this major annual meeting, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) acknowledged the city’s growing importance as a hub for the biosciences, as well as the world-class research …
France-USA Stem Cell Symposium gathers la crème de la crème
Science was the common language at the first France-USA Stem Cell Symposium, held at the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. The event brought together over 100 stem cell scientists from France and the United States on the eve of the field’s largest annual conference—the International …
Navigage, Rose Hills Foundations support Berenice Benayoun
From catching cognitive impairment earlier to understanding the genetics of age-related disease and health disparities, USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology faculty conduct exciting research supported by organizations committed to helping others. The Navigage Foundation awarded grants for pilot research projects led by USC Leonard Davis faculty members Berenice Benayoun and Mireille Jacobson. Jacobson, an …
$10 million gift from Broad Foundation advances USC stem cell research on aging-associated disease
USC’s groundbreaking stem cell research and training programs have received a major boost thanks to a $10 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The donation is part of the foundation’s latest $30 million funding initiative to support its namesake Eli and Edythe Broad stem cell research centers at USC, UCLA and University …
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 their families—more than half of them within the past year. Here, our junior faculty parents share their joy and wisdom about balancing career …
From restoring sight to reversing brain damage, USC stem cell researchers are making life-changing discoveries
If anyone has a clear vision of the power of stem cell cures, it’s Anna Kuehl. She suffered a retina-wrecking disease that cost her much of her sight before USC physicians surgically implanted stem cells to restore her ability to see. Today, she can see the letters on computer keys, use her iPhone and read …
Tissue engineering: The big picture on growing small intestines
Babies born prematurely often face intense medical challenges, including intestines that are underdeveloped or diseased. While an intestine transplant can benefit some patients, many babies are simply too small to endure this procedure. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles surgeon Tracy Grikscheit, MD, is a leader in the field of tissue engineering – growing intestines from stem …
Countdown to Commencement: Anson Tam brings the Hawaii perspective to surgery, research and swimming
Anson Tam is an aspiring doctor from Honolulu, who brings a hardworking, sun loving, laid back Hawaiian attitude to swimming, research and surgery. Tam was initially inspired to become a doctor by the primary care physicians in his hometown. Through the years, he saw many of them working hard to care for their patients, despite …
This tiny fish could unlock mysteries about growing old
Back in its native habitat, the African turquoise killifish wiggles from its egg, eats, spawns and dies — all within a few months. Life goes by fast when your home is a quickly evaporating pond of rainwater. But even when raised as pets in a home aquarium, these killifish still live for less than a …
Eat less, live longer? The science of fasting and longevity
When it comes to what, when and how we eat, fasting — voluntarily abstaining from food for varying periods of time — is having a moment. It was the most popular diet of 2018, according to a survey from the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFICF), and forms of fasting rank among Google’s top-trending diet …
Bérénice Benayoun honored for genetics research
The Genetics Society of America (GSA) and the Gruber Foundation have awarded Assistant Professor Bérénice Benayoun the 2019 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award for her research in genetics. The award, intended to showcase talented female scientists with a focus on genetics, allocates a total of $75,000 that is then distributed evenly across 3 years. GSA …
Eli and Edythe Broad to receive honorary degrees at USC commencement ceremony
USC will recognize philanthropists Edythe and Eli Broad and five other honorary degree candidates for their leadership in government, science, philanthropy, humanitarianism and the arts at the university’s 136th commencement ceremony on the University Park Campus on May 10.
Fasting-mimicking diet holds promise for treating people with inflammatory bowel disease, USC study finds
What if a special diet could reduce inflammation and repair your gut? USC researchers provided evidence that a low-calorie “fasting-mimicking” diet has the potential to do just that. Published in the March 5 edition of Cell Reports, the study reports on the health benefits of periodic cycles of the diet for people with inflammation and …
Stem cell scientists take it one cell at a time at the Junior Faculty Candidate Mini-symposium
Cells should be treated as individuals, according to the scientists who presented research at the Junior Faculty Candidate Mini-symposium, hosted by USC’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine on February 5. While cells have traditionally been evaluated as populations, these up-and-coming scientists shared their frontier approaches for studying the specific features and activities …
Tracy Grikscheit: engineering new organs from living cells
Article courtesy of CHLA.org Tracy Grikscheit, MD, is a fixer. In the operating room at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, she specializes in helping babies born with severe bowel dysfunction. She’s one of the leading pediatric surgeons specializing in intestinal disorders, and saving the lives of infants is a major part of her job. Grikscheit, an …
USC Stem Cell acquires two instruments to advance state-of-the-art cell sorting
When it comes to sorting cells or other small particles, there’s no better place to do so than USC. The university’s Flow Cytometry Facility recently acquired two top-of-the-line cell sorters, the BD FACSymphony and the BioRad S3e, thanks to generous support from several USC sources.
