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Andy McMahon (Photo by Phil Channing); featured image for USC Stem Cell scientist Andy McMahon and collaborators tune into the organ concert

USC Stem Cell scientist Andy McMahon and collaborators tune into the organ concert

Every minute of every day, your organs are using a complex language to communicate with each other about the basic physiological processes necessary for life—everything from blood pressure regulation to pH balance …

Human gametes (Image by Karl-Ludwig Poggemann); featured image for All about egg freezing: A Q&A with Dr. Richard J. Paulson, USC Fertility

All about egg freezing: A Q&A with Dr. Richard J. Paulson, USC Fertility

If you’re not going to complete your family by age 35, it’s time to freeze your eggs, according to Dr. Richard J. Paulson, director of USC Fertility. Egg freezing offers a shot …

Engineered mouse cells (Image courtesy of Leonardo Morsut); featured image for Synthetic “tissues” build themselves

Synthetic “tissues” build themselves

How do complex biological structures—an eye, a hand, a brain—emerge from a single fertilized egg? This is the fundamental question of developmental biology, and a mystery still being grappled with by scientists …

Kidney (Image by Lori O'Brien/Andy McMahon Lab, illustration by Mira Nameth)

Growing hope: New organs? Not yet, but stem cell research is getting closer

If you lose a limb, it’s lost for life. If you damage a kidney, you won’t grow a new one. And if you have a heart attack, the scars are there to …

Tubular networks developing in a mammalian kidney (Image by Tracy Tran/Andy McMahon Lab); featured image for Growing hope: What are stem cells, and how does USC use them?

Growing hope: What are stem cells, and how does USC use them?

Stem cell therapies have accelerated at a promising pace, but how do they work? And what are stem cells?

A global project at the Bridge Institute at the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience aims to one day curb the worldwide rise of diabetes. (Illustration by Yekaterina Kadyshevskaya); featured image for Scientists launch global effort to find the next diabetes drug

Scientists launch global effort to find the next diabetes drug

USC researchers have launched a massive scientific effort to construct a detailed, virtual 3-D model of the pancreatic beta cell and its components — a global project that aims to one day …

From left, stem cell researchers Andres Matias Lebensohn, Maxwell Z. Wilson, Seth Shipman, Pulin Li and Yejing Ge (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for At USC’s Junior Faculty Mini-Symposium, stem cell scientists build to understand

At USC’s Junior Faculty Mini-Symposium, stem cell scientists build to understand

When physicist Richard Feynman died in 1988, he left a message scrawled across his chalkboard: “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” Twenty years later, scientists in a very different field …

Valter Longo (Photo by John Skalicky); featured image for What to know about fasting, aging, the “longevity diet” and when you should eat

What to know about fasting, aging, the “longevity diet” and when you should eat

Biochemist Valter Longo has devoted decades to discovering connections between nutrition and successful aging. He runs the Longevity Institute at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, which aims to extend healthy …

Bérénice Benayoun (Photo courtesy of the USC Davis School of Gerontology); featured image for Bérénice Benayoun studies possibility of rejuvenating genes

Bérénice Benayoun studies possibility of rejuvenating genes

Bérénice Benayoun, assistant professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and principal investigator with USC Stem Cell, explores the role of epigenetics—the ways that genes turn “off” or “on”—in the …

Embryonic stem cells (Image/courtesy of Qi-Long Ying); featured image for Subtle cues can dictate the fate of stem cells

Subtle cues can dictate the fate of stem cells

If you’ve seen one GSK3 molecule, do not assume that you have seen them all. A new study in Developmental Cell reveals important differences in two similar forms of GSK3, which, in …

Immune cells (highlighted in yellow) in the mouse colon that are the proposed target of TNFR2-activating therapy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (Image courtesy of D. Brent Polk); featured image for Study to examine how tumor necrosis factor works to reduce intestinal inflammation

Study to examine how tumor necrosis factor works to reduce intestinal inflammation

D. Brent Polk, MD, AGAF, an investigator at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, has been awarded $1.5 million by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the NIH for …

Toshio Miki (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for Stem cells offer hope for children with Hurler syndrome

Stem cells offer hope for children with Hurler syndrome

Without enzyme replacement therapy or a blood or marrow transplant, children born with Hurler Syndrome usually die before they reach 10 years old. Hurler Syndrome is a rare genetic disease that leaves …

Pinchas Cohen (Photo courtesy of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology); featured image for Pinchas Cohen recognized as top influencer in aging field

Pinchas Cohen recognized as top influencer in aging field

A newly published list of 2017’s top 50 “Influencers in Aging” includes Pinchas Cohen, dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and principal investigator with USC Stem Cell. The list …

Nanoparticles vs. germs (Photo courtesy of @nanopeek); featured image for Peeking into the science world

Peeking into the science world

For adolescents, social media use is nearly inevitable. According to “Science Daily,” a website that circulates recently developed research news headlines, 76 percent of teenagers in the United States actively use Instagram …

Eun Ji Chung (Photo by Michelle Henry); featured image for Eun Ji Chung receives 2017 AIChE 35 Under 35 Award

Eun Ji Chung receives 2017 AIChE 35 Under 35 Award

To describe Eun Ji Chung as “goal-oriented” might be the understatement of the year. Chung, a Gabilan Assistant Professor in the USC Viterbi Department of Biomedical Engineering and USC Stem Cell principal investigator, …

Senta Georgia in the lab; featured image for A revolution in genetics

A revolution in genetics

Courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Adding a piece of DNA to treat diabetes A child develops a rare form of diabetes, due to the absence of a single piece of DNA …

Rat; featured image for USC Stem Cell researchers receive $3 million of NIH funding to produce sophisticated laboratory rats

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); featured image for Whittier Foundation backs new group of research projects

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); featured image for Broad Clinical Research Fellows strive to regenerate lymph nodes, liver and kidney

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); featured image for NIH funding helps Americans live longer and healthier

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 …