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USC Stem Cell researchers receive $3 million of NIH funding to produce sophisticated laboratory rats

USC Stem Cell principal investigator Qi-Long Ying and his team are pleased to introduce a new transgenic animal—the conditional and inducible gene knockout rat. Created using embryonic stem cell-based technology, these remarkable …

Human development (Image courtesy of Evseenko Lab)

Whittier Foundation backs new group of research projects

The L.K. Whittier Foundation has been a critical source of funding for cancer research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, supporting clinicians and …

From left, Broad Clinical Research Fellows Wan Jiao, Roshan Rajani and Anthony Squillaro (Photos courtesy of Wan Jiao, Cristy Lytal and Anthony Squillaro)

Broad Clinical Research Fellows strive to regenerate lymph nodes, liver and kidney

The lymph nodes, liver and kidney are not passive filters for toxins, but complex organ systems that perform an astonishing array of critical functions. To help patients who have suffered damage to …

Clockwise from top left: Andy McMahon, Rohit Varma, Jonathan Samet and Donna Spruijt-Metz (Photos courtesy of USC)

NIH funding helps Americans live longer and healthier

The nation’s medical research agency, the National Institutes of Health, funds research to help Americans live longer and healthier. Some 148 Nobel Prize winners have received support from the NIH, demonstrating how …

Kidney organoid (Image by Tracy Tran/McMcMahon Lab)

USC’s stem cell scientists secure the dollars to fight disease

The price of progress is not only the energy and talent of stem cell scientists, but also the research dollars that support their discoveries. In recent months, faculty members have secured numerous …

Leonardo Morsut (Photo by Cristy Lytal)

From professional volleyball to stem cell biology, Leonardo Morsut is at the top of his game

For USC Stem Cell researcher Leonardo Morsut, the word “set” refers to a collection of scientific data. “Set” is also the prelude to spiking a volleyball over the net—something he used to do for a living as a professional athlete in Italy.

Senta Georgia (Photo courtesy of Children's Hospital Los Angeles)

Beta booster: Senta Georgia works at the front lines in the fight against diabetes

Part of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ “We Went First” feature for 2017 Women’s Day Credit a school field trip with inspiring Senta Georgia to change the world. When Georgia was a young …

Valter Longo (Photo by John Skalicky)

Fasting-mimicking diet may reverse diabetes in mice

By Beth Newcomb A diet designed to imitate the effects of fasting appears to reverse diabetes, a new USC-led study shows. The fasting-like diet promotes the growth of new insulin-producing pancreatic cells …

Valter Longo (Photo by Dietmar Quistorf)

Scientifically-designed fasting diet lowers risks for major diseases

What if you could lose weight and reduce your risk of life-threatening disease without any changes in what you eat—other than a five-day special diet once every few months? That’s what happened …

D. Brent Polk (Photo courtesy of Children's Hospital Los Angeles)

D. Brent Polk named AAAS fellow

D. Brent Polk, a member of the USC Stem Cell executive committee and vice dean for clinical affairs at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), is among five USC scientists who have been …

Senta Georgia (Photo by Cristy Lytal)

What I’m Reading: Top pick from stem cell faculty member Senta Georgia

Earlier this year, a team at the Karolinska Institute published a paper that profiled gene activity in single cells from human embryos created in the context of in vitro fertilization. Now this …

Qi-Long Ying (Photo by Cristy Lytal)

What I’m Reading: Top pick from stem cell faculty member Qi-Long Ying

In a recent study published in Cell Stem Cell, Joshua Black and colleagues demonstrated that skin cells are converted into neurons using a powerful tool called CRISPR/Cas9 to concurrently modify and activate …

Wange Lu (Photo by Chris Shinn)

What I’m reading: Top pick from stem cell faculty member Wange Lu

Our genetic material is packed into the nucleus of the cell, but is the packing process random or organized in some way? In a recent study published in Cell Stem Cell, Krijger …

Biodegradable scaffold (left) and human tissue-engineered liver (right) (Photo courtesy of The Saban Research Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles)

Functional human tissue-engineered liver generated from stem and progenitor cells

A research team led by investigators at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has generated functional human and mouse tissue-engineered liver from adult stem and progenitor cells. Tissue-engineered Liver …

Joseph T. Rodgers (Photo by Cristy Lytal)

What I’m reading: A top pick from stem cell faculty member Joseph T. Rodgers

In a recent issue of Science, Jay Shendure, Alexander Schier and colleagues present an extraordinarily powerful new approach to trace the lineage of cells as they divide within an organism.

Senta Georgia (Photo by Cristy Lytal)

What I’m reading: A top pick from stem cell faculty member Senta Georgia

In the human pancreas, groups of so-called “endocrine cells” secrete the hormones insulin and glucagon, which are critical for regulating blood glucose levels; dysregulation of hormone secretion can lead to diabetes. In …

Senta Georgia (Photo by Cristy Lytal)

USC Stem Cell researcher Senta Georgia wins CIRM Discovery Inception award

Senta Georgia—principal investigator at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and assistant professor of pediatrics, and stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at USC—has a creative idea for helping children with a genetic …

From left, Andy McMahon and Gage Crump (Photos by Phil Channing and the Crump Lab)

What I’m reading: Top picks from stem cell faculty members Andy McMahon and Gage Crump

Andy McMahon: Leigh Turner and Paul Knoepfler present a disturbing report in Cell Stem Cell on the growth of businesses marketing stem cell interventions in the US. Los Angeles is one “stem …

Valter Longo (Photo by John Skalicky)

Fasting-like diet turns the immune system against cancer

A fasting-like diet with chemotherapy strips away the guard that protects breast cancer and skin cancer cells from the immune system, according to a new USC-led study on mice. The study was …

From left, Broad Clinical Research Fellows Christopher Schlieve, Gene K. Lee and R. Kiran Alluri

USC Stem Cell names second cohort of Broad Clinical Research Fellows

The second cohort of Broad Clinical Research Fellows is making strides towards finding stem cell-based therapies for lymphedema in cancer patients, large bone fractures and short bowel syndrome.