Overview

USC Stem Cell scientists are advancing our understanding of how the body develops, maintains and repairs its digestive and metabolic systems, including the liver, pancreas and digestive tract. They are also developing new regenerative treatments for patients with diabetes, metabolic syndromes, inflammatory bowel diseases, short bowel syndrome, hepatitis, liver fibrosis, liver cancer, colon cancer and many other diseases.

Statistics

  • Nearly 10 percent of Americans—more than 30 million people—have diabetes, which is the seventh leading cause of death in the US.
  • Inflammatory bowel diseases, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, affect 1.6 million Americans.
  • Approximately 4.3 percent of people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their lifetimes. Colorectal cancer affects more than 1.3 Americans, and is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the US.
  • More than 40,000 Americans are diagnosed with liver cancer each year. Nearly 30,000 Americans die from liver cancer each year.
  • Worldwide, 500 million people have hepatitis B or C. These viruses kill 1.5 million people a year.

Researchers

Digestion and Metabolism News

USC CIRM COMPASS scholars with stem cell faculty members Senta Georgia, Francesca Mariani and Louise Menendez (Photo courtesy of Senta Georgia)

Guided by COMPASS, USC undergraduates navigate stem cell research at inaugural symposium

Thirty undergraduates gathered to share their research at the first year-end symposium for USC CIRM COMPASS, a comprehensive two-year program designed to prepare juniors and seniors for careers in stem cell biology …

Students at the Keck School of Medicine of USC (Photo by William Vasta)

Meet the nine scholarship winners in USC’s stem cell master’s program

This year, philanthropic giving supported scholarships for nine students in USC’s master of science (MS) program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Launched in 2014 as one of the only programs …

Pinchas Cohen

Gerontology Dean Pinchas Cohen named senior member of the National Academy of Inventors

Cohen, an expert on mitochondrial microproteins and their therapeutic potential for diseases related to aging, holds several patents for novel peptides. Pinchas Cohen, Dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, …

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Digestion and Metabolism Videos

To discover new therapies to treat disease, scientists use living cells to study drug action and identify new drug candidates. The Choi Family Therapeutic Screening Facility in USC’s stem cell research center uses robotic systems that can simultaneously conduct thousands of tests of drug-like molecules in a “high-throughput screen” process designed to give insight into new therapies to treat many types of disease.
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