Researchers engineer a “smart bomb” to attack childhood leukemia
Fatih Uckun, Jianjun Cheng and their colleagues have taken the first steps towards developing a so-called “smart bomb” to attack the most common and deadly form of childhood cancer—called B-lineage acute lymphoblastic …
USC recruits renowned leaders in molecular research
Raymond C. Stevens and Peter Kuhn have been named Provost Professor of Biological Sciences and Chemistry and Dean’s Professor of Biological Sciences, respectively. The announcements were made by Provost Elizabeth Garrett and …
How a single genetic change causes retinal tumors in children
Retinoblastoma is a retinal tumor usually affecting children one to two years of age. Although rare, it is the most common malignant tumor of the eye in children. Left untreated, retinoblastoma can …
Min Yu targets the “seeds” of breast cancer metastasis
For breast cancer patients, the era of personalized medicine may be just around the corner, thanks to recent advances by USC Stem Cell researcher Min Yu and scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital …
USC Stem Cell and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center accelerate drug discovery
Three teams of USC stem cell researchers have won a coveted prize — the opportunity to test 3,000 drug candidates or chemicals for the potential to help patients. Two teams will focus …
Andy McMahon and USC Stem Cell: From discoveries to cures
Video by Little Pictures How do fingers become fingers and not toes? How does the brain generate the correct number of neurons? How do the kidneys branch into the complex and elegant …
Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system
In the first evidence of a natural intervention triggering stem cell-based regeneration of an organ or system, a study in the June 5 issue of Cell Stem Cell shows that cycles of …
The Baxter Foundation supports innovative, young medical researchers at USC
In 1959, the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation made its first grant of $6,000 to USC. Fifty-five years later, the foundation continues its tradition of supporting innovative medical research with …
Postdocs receive Giannini Foundation fellowships
Two Keck School of Medicine of USC postdoctoral scholars recently received fellowships from the prestigious A.P. Giannini Foundation. Lindsey Barske, PhD, received her fellowship based on her work with craniofacial development, and …
Dhont Family Foundation invigorates USC colon cancer research
Colon cancer research at USC received a boost from the Southern California-based Dhont Family Foundation, as the foundation renewed its commitment of its $1 million gift to fund Heinz-Josef Lenz’s research in …
NIH grants spur new stem cell research in the Department of Medicine
Cutbacks in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding have made the climate for new research challenging. Three studies from investigators in the Department of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of …
Min Yu and Rong Lu explore how one bad cell spoils the bunch
Principal investigators Min Yu, MD, PhD, and Rong Lu, PhD, had plans to collaborate long before they were both recruited to the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the …
Viral molecules responsible for causing AIDS-related cancer
Using a rat stem cell model, USC researcher S. J. Gao, PhD and colleagues have identified a critical cancer-causing component in the virus that causes Kaposi’s sarcoma, the most common cancer among …
Valter Longo seeks a recipe for longevity
Video by the USC Davis School of Gerontology Valter Longo, PhD, principal investigator with USC Stem Cell, is out to prove that gerontology is a young man’s game — just like rock …
USC and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles launch imaging lab for translational research
With the launch of the Translational Biomedical Imaging Lab (TBIL), investigators at the University of Southern California (USC) and The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles moved us closer to a …
Hedgehog’s long snout finds a cure
In 1993, the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) funded three researchers through one of the program’s prestigious Research Grants to work jointly on patterning of the mid-hindbrain region of the vertebrate embryo. …
Healthy stem cells can create benign tumors in jaw
A new study from the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC published in Cell Stem Cell illustrates how changes in cell signaling can cause ordinary stem cells in the jaw to start …
USC researchers grow organs to unlock secrets of how cancer tumors grow
Using three-dimensional organ creation, Keck Medicine of University of Southern California (USC) researchers aim to discover clues to metastatic cancer growth by developing a first-ever integrated bioengineered/computational model of metastatic color cancer. …
Pfizer’s J. Jean Cui explains modern drug discovery
Only five percent of potential cancer drugs make it from phase I clinical trail to FDA approval, but J. Jean Cui, PhD, associate research fellow at Pfizer, beat the odds. Cui visited …
USC researcher reveals how to better master stem cells’ fate
USC scientist Qi-Long Ying and a team of researchers have long been searching for biotech’s version of the fountain of youth — ways to encourage embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and epiblast stem …