Stem Cell PhD student Alma Zuniga Munoz wins USC’s first Gilliam Fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Alma Zuniga Munoz, a student in USC’s PhD program in Development, Stem Cells, and Regeneration, is used to being the first. She’s a first-generation American, the first member of her extended family …
USC Stem Cell faculty member Louise Menendez helps students realize their pluri-potential
Louise Menendez, the newest assistant professor in USC’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, credits her mother as her first role model for career success. Both of Menendez’s parents work …
Senta Georgia reflects on Title IX and becoming the first Black PhD scientist to earn tenure at the Keck School of Medicine of USC
When USC Stem Cell researcher Senta Georgia was granted tenure on March 10, 2023, she became the first Black PhD scientist to earn this promotion in the history of the Keck School …
USC Stem Cell-led studies point the way to broadly effective treatments for ALS
Each year in the U.S., 5,000 patients receive a diagnosis of ALS, an incurable neurodegenerative disease that will likely kill them within two to five years. In the quest to find a …
Scholarships change lives in USC’s stem cell master’s program: Five students’ stories
For one scholarship recipient in the master’s program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, USC is just close enough to his mother’s house to commute and save on rent. For another, …
USC and CHLA awarded $8 million to expand access to cell and gene therapy clinical trials
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency, has awarded a five-year, $8 million grant to the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). …
USC Stem Cell scientists Justin Ichida and Zhongwei Li receive NIH Director’s Awards
It’s hard to obtain research funding for safe ideas, and it’s even harder to find funding for risky ones. But thanks to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Awards, USC Stem …
Where are they now? Stem cell master’s program alumna Tiffany Mays, a PhD student studying cancer biology at Northwestern University
In this series of alumni profiles, we highlight graduates of USC’s master of science program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Our accomplished alumni have pursued many different paths—ranging from a …
USC faculty member Rong Lu: Providing insights into stem cell biology in the context of aging and disease
Rong Lu is an associate professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, biomedical engineering, medicine, and gerontology at USC. She joins George Shannon, faculty member and host of the podcast “Lessons …
Where are they now? Stem cell master’s program alumnus Kevin Liu, a PhD student studying cancer biology at Stanford
In this series of alumni profiles, we highlight graduates of USC’s master of science program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Our accomplished alumni have pursued many different paths—ranging from a …
USC Stem Cell alumni Litao Tao and Haoze (Vincent) Yu bring their A game to new positions in academia and industry
Scientists Litao Tao and Haoze (Vincent) Yu were colleagues and team players for many years both inside and outside of Neil Segil’s lab at the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for …
For USC Stem Cell faculty member Rong Lu, science is in her blood
When Rong Lu joined USC as an assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine in 2014, she knew that earning tenure would figuratively require blood, sweat and tears. But after …
Meet the scholarship winners in USC’s stem cell master’s program
For the second consecutive year, USC’s master’s program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine has been able to offer scholarships to its talented students. Supported by the generosity of an anonymous …
How alike are the cancer cells from a single patient?
Even within a single patient with cancer, there is a vast diversity of individual tumor cells, which display distinct behaviors related to growth, metastasis, and responses to chemotherapy. To carry out these …
Keck School of Medicine of USC: A place where we all belong
Building a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture at the Keck School. For the betterment of the Keck School of Medicine community, an innovative initiative was conceived last year known as the JEDI-WeST …
Study of skull birth defect takes it from the top
Contrary to the popular song, the neck bone is actually connected to one of 22 separate head bones that make up the human skull. These plate-like bones intersect at specialized joints called …
Marcella Birtele named Choi Family Postdoctoral Fellow at USC Stem Cell
In one sense, Marcella Birtele is following in her father’s footsteps: he works as an electrician in Italy, and she studies the electrophysiology of the brain as a postdoctoral fellow in Giorgia …
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. …
USC scientist Albert Almada puts muscle into stem cell research
USC Stem Cell scientist Albert Almada once had ambitions of becoming a catcher in a professional baseball league—until he was sidelined by a rotator cuff injury in his shoulder. “Life painfully closes …
Can COVID-19 cause diabetes?
Can the novel coronavirus—SARS-CoV-2—cause diabetes? No one knows, but Senta Georgia, PhD, is trying to find out. Dr. Georgia, an investigator in The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, recently …