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Embryonic stem cells that have differentiated into neurons (Image by In Kyoung Mah/Mariani Lab); featured image for From restoring sight to reversing brain damage, USC stem cell researchers are making life-changing discoveries

From restoring sight to reversing brain damage, USC stem cell researchers are making life-changing discoveries

If anyone has a clear vision of the power of stem cell cures, it’s Anna Kuehl. She suffered a retina-wrecking disease that cost her much of her sight before USC physicians surgically …

Killifish; featured image for This tiny fish could unlock mysteries about growing old

This tiny fish could unlock mysteries about growing old

Back in its native habitat, the African turquoise killifish wiggles from its egg, eats, spawns and dies — all within a few months. Life goes by fast when your home is a …

(Illustration by Chris Gash); featured image for Eat less, live longer? The science of fasting and longevity

Eat less, live longer? The science of fasting and longevity

When it comes to what, when and how we eat, fasting — voluntarily abstaining from food for varying periods of time — is having a moment. It was the most popular diet …

Bérénice Benayoun (Photo courtesy of the USC Davis School of Gerontology); featured image for Bérénice Benayoun honored for genetics research

Bérénice Benayoun honored for genetics research

The Genetics Society of America (GSA) and the Gruber Foundation have awarded Assistant Professor Bérénice Benayoun the 2019 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award for her research in genetics. The award, intended to …

From left, Lina R. Nih, stem cell scientists Daniel Wagner, Unmesh Jadhav, Karthik Shehkar and Anastasia Tikhonova (Photo by Sergio Bianco); featured image for Stem cell scientists take it one cell at a time at the Junior Faculty Candidate Mini-symposium

Stem cell scientists take it one cell at a time at the Junior Faculty Candidate Mini-symposium

Cells should be treated as individuals, according to the scientists who presented research at the Junior Faculty Candidate Mini-symposium, hosted by USC’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine on February …

The core research facilities at USC's stem cell research center serve the scientific community throughout Southern California. (Photo by Sergio Bianco)

USC Stem Cell acquires two instruments to advance state-of-the-art cell sorting

When it comes to sorting cells or other small particles, there’s no better place to do so than USC. The university’s Flow Cytometry Facility recently acquired two top-of-the-line cell sorters, the BD …

After radiation, a small number of blood stem cells make an outsized contribution to reconstituting the blood and immune system. (Figure by Jiya Eerdeng/Rong Lu Lab); featured image for Stem cell study offers clues for optimizing bone marrow transplants and more

Stem cell study offers clues for optimizing bone marrow transplants and more

Bone marrow transplants, which involve transplanting healthy blood stem cells, offer the best treatment for many types of cancers, blood disorders and immune diseases. Even though 22,000 of these procedures are performed …

USC researchers are focusing on a protein that is associated with our body clocks to see if it affects disease onset. (Illustration courtesy of iStock); featured image for Disease risk seen in disrupted biological clock

Disease risk seen in disrupted biological clock

USC scientists report that a novel time-keeping mechanism within liver cells that helps sustain key organ tasks can contribute to diseases when its natural rhythm is disrupted.

Ellis Meng and Michael Waterman are 2018 fellows in the National Academy of Inventors. (Photos courtesy of USC Viterbi School of Engineering); featured image for Ellis Meng and Mike Waterman elected fellows of the National Academy of Inventors

Ellis Meng and Mike Waterman elected fellows of the National Academy of Inventors

Ellis Meng, a professor of biomedical engineering and electrical engineering, who holds the Gabilan Distinguished Professorship in Science and Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and University Professor, Michael Waterman, …

The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Symposium sparked collaborations. (Photo by Sergio Bianco); featured image for USC researchers converge at the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Symposium

USC researchers converge at the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Symposium

“The field of stem cell biology is one of our great convergence opportunities,” said USC Provost Michael Quick, addressing an audience of biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers, clinicians and many others. This diverse …

Valter Longo (USC Photo; Illustration by Time); featured image for TIME names Valter Longo one of the 50 Most Influential People in Health Care of 2018

TIME names Valter Longo one of the 50 Most Influential People in Health Care of 2018

USC Leonard Davis School Professor Valter Longo, director of the USC Longevity Institute and USC Stem Cell principal investigator, has been named one of TIME’s the 50 Most Influential People in Health …

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 …

Killer T cells (green and red) surrounding a cancer cell (blue, center). (Image by Alex Ritter, Jennifer Lippincott Schwartz and Gillian Griffiths/National Institutes of Health); featured image for CHLA joins CureWorks collaborative to accelerate development of immunotherapy treatments for childhood cancers

CHLA joins CureWorks collaborative to accelerate development of immunotherapy treatments for childhood cancers

Seattle Children’s, with participating members Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Children’s National Health System and BC Children’s Hospital, has launched CureWorks, an international collaborative of leading academic children’s hospitals determined to accelerate the …

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 …

A healthy T cell (Image courtesy of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases); featured image for When it comes to balancing the immune system, some blood stem cells are better than others

When it comes to balancing the immune system, some blood stem cells are better than others

In your body, blood stem cells produce approximately 10 billion new white blood cells, which are also known as immune cells, each and every day. Even more remarkably, if some of these …

Kella Vangsness (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for USC’s Kella Vangsness paints stem cells as superheroes

USC’s Kella Vangsness paints stem cells as superheroes

With captions by Kella Vangsness “As an artist and scientist, I cannot help but imagine stem cells as ‘superheroes’ fighting against ‘villains’ of disease,” said Kella Vangsness, who is graduating from USC …

Zea Borok (Photo by Ricardo Carrasco III); featured image for Gift boosts lung disease research at the Keck School

Gift boosts lung disease research at the Keck School

Pioneering research on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of advanced lung disease is being strengthened at the Keck School of Medicine of USC thanks to generous support from the Hastings Foundation.

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?