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 …
This mouse can’t keep a secret about the “secretome”
The “secretome” refers to proteins that are secreted by a cell, a tissue or an organism. In a new study published in Open Biology, USC Stem Cell scientist Andy McMahon and his …
USC Stem Cell scientists use mini-kidney models to identify potential drugs for polycystic kidney disease
In a new study in Cell Stem Cell, scientists from the USC laboratory of Andy McMahon generated simple kidney-like structures called organoids, and used them to identify potential drugs to treat adult-onset …
Communicating science visually: Mukund Iyer, MaryAnne Achieng and Stephanie Chang win the 2022 Winter BioRender contest
For his graphic on immune cell function in the brain, Mukund Iyer took first place in the Winter 2021 BioRender Illustration competition for his schematic of breast cancer cells’ entry through the …
Stem cell scientists explore the mysteries of regeneration at the Junior Faculty Candidate Seminar and Symposium
How can we regenerate tissues that are damaged, lost or diseased in the human body? This was the central question driving the four scientists who presented their research at the Junior Faculty …
USC Stem Cell: An incubator for medicine of the 21st century
Just over a decade ago, USC was a university with a few scattered stem cell biologists, and a vision for total transformation. The university was committed to designing a unique “incubator” for …
Cycles of a fasting-mimicking diet help mice live longer, healthier
While many diets have been studied for effectiveness in preventing obesity and heart disease in both mice and humans, research on the effects and benefits of short, periodic cycles of fasting on obesity and heart health are lacking. In a new USC study on the health effects of a low-calorie diet that mimics …
Bérénice Benayoun receives prestigious investigator-focused grant
The Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award directly supports scientists, providing stability, flexibility and more opportunities for breakthroughs. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has awarded an R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) …
USC-led study traces the blueprints for how human kidneys form their filtering units
When it comes to building a kidney, only nature possesses the complete set of blueprints. But a USC-led team of scientists has managed to borrow some of nature’s pages through a comprehensive …
Top scientists and research institutions propose improvements to cell- and gene-based therapy development
Led by a USC cell and gene therapy researcher, an international coalition calls for more transparency and reproducibility in research and development of breakthrough treatments. Scientists around the world are achieving significant …
USC Professor Scott E. Fraser redefines impossible problems
USC Professor Scott E. Fraser is known for inventing new microscopes and other tools to observe living, developing embryos. But one of his lab’s most important pieces of technology filters coffee instead …
USC Professor Megan McCain crafts an approach to tissue engineering
Megan McCain has always liked using her hands to create things, ranging from art projects to human heart cells that grow on silicon chips. “I’ve always loved building things and doing crafts, …
Bérénice Benayoun receives GSA Nathan Shock New Investigator Award
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA)—the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging—has chosen Assistant Professor Bérénice Benayoun of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology as the 2021 …
The same cell type can help or hinder repair after acute kidney injury
The USC Stem Cell laboratory of Andy McMahon has identified a type of injured cell that might contribute to the transition from an acute kidney injury to chronic kidney disease, as described …
USC Stem Cell scientists make big progress in building mini-kidneys
A team of scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC has created what could be a key building block for assembling a synthetic kidney. In a new study in Nature …
USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut awarded $2.5 million NIH grant to explore “synthetic” embryonic development
Whether in an earthworm or a human being, developmental processes are driven by complex networks of genetically-encoded signals that enable cells to take cues from each other and their environment. To begin …
USC Stem Cell study identifies molecular “switch” that turns precursors into kidney cells
Kidney development is a balancing act between the self-renewal of stem and progenitor cells to maintain and expand their numbers, and the differentiation of these cells into more specialized cell types. In …
CHLA, Keck School, Keck Medicine and USC Norris partner on cell therapy program as construction on new facility begins
The essence of translational medicine is taking an idea from the drawing board and “translating” it into a real-world treatment that helps patients. The winding road of that process takes plenty of …
For USC scientist Xi Chen, a chicken is more than just an egg’s way of making another egg
USC postdoctoral researcher Xi Chen knows that you have to break a few eggs in order to grow chicken stem cells. His work on maintaining embryonic stem cells (ESC) from chicken eggs …
USC Stem Cell PhD student Tracy Tran: Celebrating the journey of a budding developmental biologist
As a child in Vietnam, Tracy Tran helped her family run a small business importing porcelain products from China and assumed she would follow in their footsteps. Neither of her parents had …