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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …