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Impromptu McMahon lab meeting

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 …

In the cGMP facility space before construction. From left: Mohamed Abou-el-Enein; Tom Buchanan; Alan S. Wayne; Caryn Lerman; and Nikos Carli. (Photo/Sergio Bianco)

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 …

Xi Chen

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 …

Tracy Tran

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 …

Fraser by Noe Montes

USC biological imaging innovator elected to National Academy of Medicine

Scott Fraser, Provost Professor of Biological Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Physiology and Biophysics, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Pediatrics, Radiology and Ophthalmology, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Fraser, …

Wilms tumor team

A bench-to-bedside approach to Wilms tumor

Stefano Da Sacco, PhD, calls Wilms tumor “an underdog” in the research world. “If you go to the American Urological Association or other meetings, there aren’t many presentations or discussions about Wilms …

USC's stem cell research center

California’s biggest stem cell experiment: The impact of the stem cell ballot proposition at USC

In 2008, USC broke ground on an $80 million building dedicated solely to stem cell research and regenerative medicine. The plans called for a monolithic structure clad in black marble and reflective …

Scott E. Fraser

USC’s Scott E. Fraser elected to National Academy of Medicine

USC biophysicist Scott E. Fraser, PhD, has as been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the organization announced Monday. He’s among 100 new members of the Academy. “For integrating biophysics, quantitative …

Men are from Mars

New award supports study of why females age differently than males

A new research project led by USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology Assistant Professor Bérénice Benayoun aims to learn more about why female mammals, including humans, age differently than males. Sex dimorphism …

Andrew P. McMahon

USC Professor Andrew P. McMahon elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Andrew P. McMahon—who is the W.M. Keck Provost and University Professor in USC’s departments of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, and Biological Sciences at the …

Long Cai

The Broad Foundation brings together stem cell scientists, engineers and physicians at USC and beyond

Developing new stem cell therapies requires more than a solo biologist having a eureka moment alone in the lab. Real progress relies on collaborations between biologists, engineers and physicians. That’s why The …

Oliver Bell

Design redundancy is in our DNA

Design redundancy is not only an invention of engineers for building machines, but also a principle of nature for designing organisms. This principle is at play in the regulation of the genes responsible for directing stem cells to multiply themselves in the developing mouse embryo, as described in a new study in Science Advances.

hyperspectral fish

From detecting lung cancer to spotting counterfeit money, this new imaging technology could have countless uses

USC scientists have developed a new tool to peer more deeply and clearly into living things, a visual advantage that saves time and helps advance medical cures. It’s the sort of foundational …

In-Part Discover

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 …

In a detailed, cell-by-cell look into the kidney, USC researchers found marked differences between the sexes. (Image courtesy of the McMahon Lab)

Stem cell scientists reveal key differences in male, female kidney

USC researchers have completed a detailed deconstruction of the kidney, revealing for the first time an intimate portrait of sexual differences and more in the organ. The findings could benefit 37 million …

Vassilios Papadopoulos and his lab researchers have found a way to produce testosterone in the lab for the first time using a combination of stem cells, human collagen, nutrients and other ingredients. (Photo by Ed Carreon)

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 …

Bangyan Stiles, PhD, and colleagues from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering were awarded a three-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) project grant in the amount of $636,141. Photo by Ed Carreon.

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 …

From left, Lindsey Barske, Michaela Patterson, Joanna Smeeton and Kate Galloway

Meet six USC Stem Cell postdocs-turned-professors

Only 23 percent of biomedical PhD holders eventually land tenure-track faculty positions, according to a report by the National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group. Beating these odds, six postdoctoral …

Layers of healthy human kidney cells (visible as red and green in fluorescent image) form a working filter in the new model developed by Dr. Perin and Dr. Da Sacco in the GOFARR Lab.

CHLA scientists develop first physiologically-accurate in vitro model of the human kidney glomerulus

Story courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Kidneys work to constantly filter blood and remove toxins from the body. Conditions such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) are characterized by a reduced ability …

Jean Rosenbaum

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 …