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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 …

Visualization of skull bone growth in live zebrafish (Image by Camilla Teng); featured image for Zebrafish make waves in our understanding of a common craniofacial birth defect

Zebrafish make waves in our understanding of a common craniofacial birth defect

Children are not as hard-headed as adults—in a very literal sense. Babies are born with soft spots and flexible joints called sutures at the junctions where various sections of their skull bones …

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 …

Yang Chai (Photo courtesy of the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC); featured image for Yang Chai elected to National Academy of Medicine

Yang Chai elected to National Academy of Medicine

Yang Chai, associate dean of research at the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), a membership that is considered one of the …

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 …

D'Juan Farmer (Photo by Sergio Bianco)

USC Stem Cell scientist D’Juan Famer named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna H. Gray Fellow

A little over a year after arriving at USC, D’Juan Farmer has been awarded one of the most prestigious fellowships available to postdoctoral fellows. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna H. …

Mouse joint cartilage (Image by Ben Van Handel); featured image for A joint effort to understand cartilage development

A joint effort to understand cartilage development

Anyone with arthritis can appreciate how useful it would be if scientists could grow cartilage in the lab. To this end, Keck School of Medicine of USC scientists in the USC Stem …

Malcolm Snead (Photo courtesy of the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC); featured image for From teeth the spines, growing bone in new ways

From teeth the spines, growing bone in new ways

Bone is crucial. After blood, it’s the most frequently transplanted tissue, with 1.6 to 2 million bone transplants performed in the United States each year.

Skeletal staining of the lower face of a zebrafish, with cartilage in blue, and bones and teeth in red. (Image by Pengfei Xu/Crump Lab); featured image for A Fox code for the face

A Fox code for the face

In the developing face, how do stem cells know whether to become cartilage, bones or teeth? To begin to answer this question, scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Gage Crump …

USC Trustee Daniel Epstein and his wife, Phyllis, give $10 million via their family foundation to support sports medicine research and treatment at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. (Photo courtesy of Daniel and Phyllis Epstein); featured image for Epstein family gift enhances sports medicine research and care at USC

Epstein family gift enhances sports medicine research and care at USC

Researchers and clinicians at the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery will advance their pioneering work on treatments and techniques to prevent and heal sports-related injuries thanks to a new …

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 developing metacarpal joint with skeletal stem cells (green) and mature cartilage cells (red). (Image courtesy of the Evseenko Lab); featured image for Denis Evseenko receives $4 million for arthritis research

Denis Evseenko receives $4 million for arthritis research

Denis Evseenko, a stem cell researcher at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has been awarded two grants totaling more than $4 million to support osteoarthritis research. A $3.4 million R01 …

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 …

From left, Priya Kumar and Mila Scheinberg (Photo by Cristy Lytal); featured image for Countdown to Commencement: Mila Scheinberg is an athlete, artist and future orthopedic surgeon

Countdown to Commencement: Mila Scheinberg is an athlete, artist and future orthopedic surgeon

At first glance, Mila Scheinberg’s passions seem unrelated: she has always been interested in medicine, loves to exercise and won many awards for her paintings in high school. However, in the masterpiece …

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 new gel technology pioneered by Janet Moradian-Oldak and her team may eventually reach an elusive goal: filling without drilling.; featured image for Ostrow researcher makes strides in gel to regrow tooth enamel

Ostrow researcher makes strides in gel to regrow tooth enamel

Around the globe, dental cavities are the leading source of disability and pain: they affect 35 percent of the world’s population, with an economic impact in the hundreds of billions of dollars. …

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 …

Joint cartilage (Image by Nancy Liu); featured image for Small molecule could make a big difference for arthritis patients

Small molecule could make a big difference for arthritis patients

Will there come a time when a patient with arthritis can forgo joint replacement surgery in favor of a shot? USC Stem Cell scientist Denis Evseenko has reason to be optimistic. In …