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Valter Longo (Photo by Dietmar Quistorf); featured image for Diet that mimics fasting may also reduce multiple sclerosis symptoms

Diet that mimics fasting may also reduce multiple sclerosis symptoms

Evidence is mounting that a diet mimicking the effects of fasting has health benefits beyond weight loss, with a new USC-led study indicating that it may reduce symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Scientists …

Graduate student Vincent Haoze Yu; Broad Clinical Fellow Rodrigo Martínez Monedero, MD; Michael Sidgmore; principal investigator Neil Segil, PhD; and graduate student Louise Menendez in the Choi Family Therapeutic Screening Facility at the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. Segil's team is collaborating with USC Stem Cell researchers Justin Ichida, PhD, Takahiro Ohyama, PhD, and Radha Kalluri, PhD, to reprogram skin cells into sensory cells of the inner ear. (Photo courtesy of HSC News)

Sidgmore Family Foundation gift to help hearing loss research

There has always been one insurmountable problem related to hearing loss: When the sensory hair cells in the inner ear die, they don’t regenerate. These microscopic cells signal to the brain that …

Mark Humayun, MD, PhD, shakes hands with President Barack Obama after receiving the National Medal of Technology and Innovation during a ceremony May 19, 2016, at the White House.; featured image for Mark Humayun receives the National Medal from President Obama

Mark Humayun receives the National Medal from President Obama

Mark S. Humayun, co-director of the USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute and director of the USC Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics, received the nation’s highest award for achievement in technology from …

The Journal of Neuroscience cover from April 27, 2016; featured image for Key mutations may worsen hearing loss from the chemotherapy drug cisplatin

Key mutations may worsen hearing loss from the chemotherapy drug cisplatin

The chemotherapy drug cisplatin can kill cancer, but it can also kill the sensory cells of the inner ear — causing permanent hearing loss. This hearing loss is likely to be more severe …

Justin Ichida as an undergraduate at UCLA (Photo courtesy of Justin Ichida); featured image for Outside the lab: Justin Ichida, a stem cell scientist with the spirit of aloha and rock ’n roll

Outside the lab: Justin Ichida, a stem cell scientist with the spirit of aloha and rock ’n roll

As a third-generation Hawaiian, USC Stem Cell researcher Justin Ichida is equally comfortable with lu’aus and lead guitars as with laboratories. As an assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine …

Justin Ichida (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for USC Stem Cell scientist Justin Ichida named New York Stem Cell Foundation – Robertson Investigator

USC Stem Cell scientist Justin Ichida named New York Stem Cell Foundation – Robertson Investigator

Some people see an award as remuneration for work well done. Upon being named a New York Stem Cell Foundation – Robertson Investigator, ALS researcher Justin Ichida sees his award as motivation …

Malcolm Snead (Photo courtesy of the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC); featured image for Amplifying cell signals for potentially lower cost stem cell interventions

Amplifying cell signals for potentially lower cost stem cell interventions

Editor’s Note: USC Stem Cell principal investigators Malcolm Snead and Yan Zhou were among the authors of “Supramolecular Nanofibers Enhance Growth Factor Signaling by Increasing Lipid Raft Mobility,” published on April 12, …

3-D printed Cas9 enzyme that snips a DNA sequence at a location identified by CRISPR. (Photo courtesy of the NIH 3D Print Exchange, National Institutes of Health); featured image for USC Stem Cell scientists enter the conversation about CRISPR

USC Stem Cell scientists enter the conversation about CRISPR

CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene-editing technique that enables scientists to disable, replace or modify sections of DNA. It allows for unprecedented precision and speed in the field of genome editing. It has been used to …

Kimberley Babos (Photo courtesy of ISSCR); featured image for PhD student Kimberley Babos featured in ISSCR Member Spotlight

PhD student Kimberley Babos featured in ISSCR Member Spotlight

Kimberley Nicole Babos, a PhD candidate and Ichida Lab member at USC, recently gave an interview to the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) for a Member Spotlight.

Jon-Paul Pepper (Photo courtesy of Keck Medicine of USC); featured image for Meet Jon-Paul Pepper, USC Stem Cell principal investigator and director of the USC Facial Nerve Center

Meet Jon-Paul Pepper, USC Stem Cell principal investigator and director of the USC Facial Nerve Center

Meet Jon-Paul Pepper, director of the USC Facial Nerve Center and assistant professor of clinical otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Keck Medicine of USC. As a surgeon and scientist, he is striving …

From left, Hsiang-Ying (Sherry) Lee, Sergei Doulatov, Leonardo Morsut, Alexander Pollen and Joan Font-Burgada (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for USC Stem Cell mini-symposium introduces next-generation researchers

USC Stem Cell mini-symposium introduces next-generation researchers

The next generation of scientists is turning to stem cells to advance our understanding of systems ranging from the blood to the brain, from the liver to the lungs. Six of these …

Qi-Long Ying (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for Scientists Qi-Long Ying and Austin Smith win the 2016 McEwen Award for Innovation

Scientists Qi-Long Ying and Austin Smith win the 2016 McEwen Award for Innovation

Video by Henry Liu Researchers Qi-Long Ying from USC and Austin Smith from the University of Cambridge have won the 2016 McEwen Award for Innovation, the highest honor bestowed by the International …

Ismael Fernández-Hernández (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for Ismael Fernández-Hernández receives USC-CONACYT Provost Fellowship

Ismael Fernández-Hernández receives USC-CONACYT Provost Fellowship

We can learn a lot from fly brains, according to Ismael Fernández-Hernández, a postdoctoral fellow in the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Michael Bonaguidi. Fernández-Hernández is an accomplished researcher who showed that …

Broad Fellow Gabriel R. Linares (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for USC stem cell researcher Gabriel R. Linares receives Broad Fellowship

USC stem cell researcher Gabriel R. Linares receives Broad Fellowship

For this year’s Broad Fellow, Gabriel R. Linares, science is personal. “I have to say the turning point that spiked my interest in science was when I was in high school, and …

Motor neurons derived from an ALS patient (Image courtesy of the Ichida Lab); featured image for USC announces winners of the Audrey E. Streedain Regenerative Medicine Initiative Awards

USC announces winners of the Audrey E. Streedain Regenerative Medicine Initiative Awards

Two collaborative teams within USC Stem Cell are developing new approaches that could eventually help patients with heart disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The teams are the winners of …

Mark Humayun (Photo by Gus Ruelas); featured image for USC’s Mark Humayun to receive National Medal of Technology and Innovation

USC’s Mark Humayun to receive National Medal of Technology and Innovation

President Barack Obama will bestow the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to USC University Professor Mark Humayun at a ceremony in Washington, DC, on January 22. Humayun, who holds joint appointments …

The gene Prkci promotes the generation of differentiated cells (red). However if Prkci activity is reduced or absent, neural stem cells (green) are promoted. (Image by In Kyoung Mah); featured image for A Prkci gene keeps stem cells in check

A Prkci gene keeps stem cells in check

When it comes to stem cells, too much of a good thing isn’t wonderful: producing too many new stem cells may lead to cancer; producing too few inhibits the repair and maintenance …

From right, Qi-Long Ying, director of the Chang Stem Cell Engineering Facility; Daniel Chang; Andy McMahon, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC; and Cai Li Chang (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for Chang Stem Cell Engineering Facility brings gene editing to USC and beyond

Chang Stem Cell Engineering Facility brings gene editing to USC and beyond

Once the stuff of science fiction, genetic engineering is now offered on a fee-for-service basis at USC. On September 19, USC Stem Cell faculty and staff welcomed their supporters, the Chang and …

Motor neurons derived from an ALS patient (Image courtesy of the Ichida Lab); featured image for USC Stem Cell researcher Justin Ichida receives $300,000 Muscular Dystrophy Association grant

USC Stem Cell researcher Justin Ichida receives $300,000 Muscular Dystrophy Association grant

Ten percent of all patients with two neurodegenerative diseases — frontotemperal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — possess a mutation in the same gene. …

Age-related macular degeneration; featured image for Americans for Cures animates stem cell research at USC and UCSD

Americans for Cures animates stem cell research at USC and UCSD

Americans for Cures produced a white board animation showcasing a clinical trial for age-related macular degeneration, led by USC Stem Cell researchers David Hinton and Mark Humayun: