Current opportunities

Eli and Edythe Broad Innovation Awards for USC- and Caltech-affiliated faculty members pursuing multi-investigator research collaborations related to stem cells

• 2023–2025: Michael Bonaguidi, Jonathan Russin, Charles Liu and Todd Schroeder; Exercise for adult brain regeneration in epilepsy patients
• 2023–2025: Giorgia Quadrato and Michael Elowitz; Synthetic RNA exporters for real-time tracking of human brain organoid development
• 2023–2024: Justin Ichida and Mitchell Guttman; Understanding of RNA mediated toxicity in C9-ALS pathogenesis
• 2020–2021: Michael Bonaguidi, Robert Chow and Jonathan Russin; Adult newborn astroglia as a novel therapeutic target in human epilepsy 
• 2020–2021: Rong Lu and Michael Elowitz; Identifying the spatial organization of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in the bone marrow 
• 2020–2021: Andy McMahon and Long Cai; seqFISH profiling of maladaptive injury response in acute to chronic kidney disease transition
• 2019–2020: Thomas Lozito and Michael Bonaguidi; Why can some lizard species regenerate their tails, while others cannot?
• 2019–2020: Min Yu and Peggy Farnham; Understanding and targeting estrogen receptor mutation in metastatic cancer stem cells
• 2018: Qi-Long Ying and Rong Lu; Engineering human granulocyte/macrophage progenitors for cancer immunotherapy
• 2017: Eun Ji Chung, Larissa Rodriguez and Rong Zhang; Heparin-binding peptide amphiphile hydrogels for urethral regeneration
• 2016: Justin Ichida, Megan McCain and Dion Dickman; Identifying mechanisms of ALS neuromuscular junction dysfunction using iPSC-derived motor units
• 2016: Keyue Shen and Rong Lu; Microscale engineering of hematopoietic stem cell niches in a dish

CIRM Training Fellowships in Stem Cell Biology and Tissue Regeneration for PhD students, postdocs, and clinical trainees — applications due each year in October

• PhD Students
  • 2024–2025: Gabriel Elizalde (Almada Lab)
  • 2023–2025: Stephanie Do (McCain Lab), Zheng Guo (Ying Lab)
  • 2022–2024: Jiya Eerdeng (Lu Lab), Kuo-Chang Tseng (Crump Lab)
• Postdocs
  • 2024–2025: Fokion Glykofrydis (Morsut Lab), Alireza Lorzadeh (Jadhav Lab), Hao Zhou (Keyue Shen Lab)
  • 2023–2024:Matthew Lowe (postdoc, Bell Lab)
  • 2022–2023: Aswathy Ammothumkandy (Bonaguidi Lab), Li Ma (Jianfu Chen Lab), Zhou Yu (Cheng-Ming Chuong Lab)
• Clinical Fellows
  • 2024–2025 clinical fellows: Zachary Fouladian (mentor: David Cobrinik)
  • 2023–2025: Jacqueline Neill (mentor: Sanjeet Patel)

Broad Clinical Research Fellowships for stem cell researchers possessing or training for MD or MD/PhD degrees with the intention of practicing medicine in California

• 2020–2021: Johanna Ascher Bartlett (Co-mentors: Juliet Emamaullee, Rohit Kohli); Predictive biomarkers of progression of acute liver failure in children
• 2020–2021: Kevin Collon (Co-mentors: Jay R. Lieberman, Denis Evseenko); Testing safety of genetically manipulated stem cells to treat critical sized bone defects
• 2020–2021: Allen Zhong (Co-mentors: Kasper Wang, Kinji Asahina); Prom1-mediated repair and biliary atresia
• 2019–2020: Kemp Anderson (Co-mentors: Mark Frey, Christopher Gayer); The role of nuclear receptor FXE in impaired intestinal barrier function in acute injury and inflammation
• 2019–2020: Caitlin O’Neill (Co-mentors: Casey O’Connell, Rong Lu); Tet methylcyosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2) mutation and its role in cardiovascular disease in patients with clonal hematopoiesis
• 2019–2020: Brittany Rocque (Co-mentors: Juliet Emamaullee, Shahab Asgharzadeh); Immunologic phenotypes of rejection in clinical liver transplantation
• 2018–2019: Abigail Zamora (Mentor: Eugene S. Kim); Targeting cancer stem cells to treat neuroblastoma
• 2018–2019: H. Paco Kang (Mentor: Jay R. Lieberman); Using genetically manipulated stem cells to treat critical sized bone defects
• 2017–2018: Wan Jiao (Co-mentors: Young Kwon Hong, Alex Wong); Exploring a stem cell-based treatment for lymphedema
• 2017–2018: Roshan Rajani (Mentor: Nuria M. Pastor-Soler); Effects of acid-base status and metabolic status on kidney regeneration in chronic kidney disease
• 2017–2018: Anthony Squillaro (Mentor: Tracy C. Grikscheit); Optimizing tissue-engineered liver (TELi)
• 2016–2017: R. Kiran Alluri (Mentor: Jay R. Lieberman); Using genetically manipulated stem cells to treat critical sized bone defects
• 2016–2017: Gene K. Lee (Co-mentors: Young Kwon Hong, Alex Wong); Exploring a stem cell-based treatment for lymphedema
• 2016–2017: Christopher Schlieve (Mentor: Tracy C. Grikscheit); Creating stem cell-derived intestines for patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS)
• 2015–2016: Andre Luis de Castro Abreu (Co-mentors: Inderbir Gill, Janos Peti-Peterdi); Targeting and therapeutically developing a new mechanism of endogenous nephron repair
  
• 2015–2016: Victoria Forte (Co-mentors: Julie Lang, Min Yu); Evaluating if circulating cancer cells are present in tumor dormancy candidates
  
• 2015–2016: Rodrigo Martínez Monedero (Mentor: Neil Segil); Molecular analysis of mature supporting cells as targets for sensory hair cell regeneration: Acquisition and epigenetic analysis
• 2015–2016: Kathy Schall (Mentor: Tracy C. Grikscheit); Investigating the role of the Wnt signaling pathway on intestinal adaptation with a novel short bowel syndrome model in zebrafish

Broad Collaborative Challenge Grants for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows pursuing interdisciplinary research collaborations related to stem cells — proposals due each year in June

• 2024–2025: Benjamin Swedlund (Morsut Lab) and Zachary Krieger (Ian Ehrenreich Lab): De novo design of complex self-organized patterns through a library screening approach
• 2024–2025: Wynnie Nguyun (Bonaguidi Lab) and Tammy Doan (Frank Atenello Lab): Targeting quiescent glioblastoma stem cells to enhance glioblastomas chemosensitivity
• 2024–2025: Bowen Wang (Wang Lab) and Yixuan Hung (Lu Lab): Integrating HSC transplantation and FUS-controllable CAR-T cell therapy
• 2022–2023: Peyman Nouri and Zachary Fouladian; MYCN control of metabolomic changes during cone precursor maturation
• 2022–2023: Tuo Shi (Crump and Gnedeva labs) and Leah Kim (Gnedeva Lab); Cross-species comparisons of the epigenetic mechanisms underlying hair cell regeneration in the inner ear
• 2022–2023: Fokion Glykofrydis (Morsut Lab), James Yu (Young Kwon Hong Lab) and Connor Fausto (Lindström Lab); Vascularizing human kidney organoids via synthetic biology-augmented approaches

T32 Training Fellowships in Developmental Biology, Stem Cells, and Regeneration for PhD students

• 2024–2026: Lola Takhirov (Lindström Lab), Arshia Uttam (Crump Lab), George Ye (Jadhav Lab)
• 2023–2025: Alexander Atamian (Quadrato Lab), Emilie Chien (Matt Michaels Lab), Darian Gamble (Lozito Lab), Pedro Medina (Li Lab), Wynnie Nguyen (Bonaguidi Lab)
• 2022–2024: Alma Zuniga Munoz (Almada Lab)
• 2021–2023: Jasmine Martinez (Bell Lab)
• 2020–2022: Jonathan Levi (Bonaguidi Lab), Maile Romero-Wolf (Jadhav Lab), Jack Schnell (Lindström Lab)
• 2020–2021: Alexandria Sorenson (Min Yu Lab)
• 2019–2021: Mathi Thiruppathy (Crump Lab), Jean-Paul Urenda (Quadrato Lab)
• 2019–2020: John Nguyen (Segil Lab)
• 2018–2020: Maxwell Serowocky (Mariani Lab)
• 2018–2019: Helena Bugacov (McMahon Lab)
• 2017–2019: Maxwell Ederer (Joseph Rodgers Lab)
• 2017–2018: Casey Griffin (Ruchi Bajpai Lab)
• 2016–2018: Hidadura DeZoysa (Ram Subramanyan Lab)
• 2015–2016: Dominic Shayler (David Cobrinik Lab)
• 2014–2016: Cynthia Neben (Amy Merrill Lab)
• 2013–2015: Ingrid Lua (Kinji Asahina Lab), Elisabeth Rutledge (McMahon Lab)
• 2012–2014: Joanna Salva (Amy Merrill Lab)
• 2010–2012: M. Andrews (Samantha Butler Lab), Sapna Shah (Gregor Adams Lab)

Neil Segil Travel Scholarships for undergraduate students actively engaged in research within USC’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine

Past opportunities

Audrey E. Streedain Regenerative Medicine Initiative Awards for USC-affiliated faculty members pursuing multi-investigator research collaborations related to stem cells

• 2016–2018: Paula Cannon and Justin Ichida; AAV gene-targeting of the C9ORF72 repeat expansion to rescue neurons in vivo: A novel therapeutic strategy for ALS and FTD
• 2016–2018: Ram Kumar Subramanyan and Jian Xu; The role of the PRMT1-p53 axis in mediating cardiac fibroblast fate transition in the injured heart

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation’s Fund for Innovative Stem Cell Research

• 2017: Pietro Cippa, Kun Zhang and Andy McMahon; Identifying mechanisms of renal repair by NUC-seq profiling of reparative nephron cell types
• 2017: Justin Ichida and Scott E. Fraser; Scalable system for endogenous protein labeling by CRISPR-Cas in human iPSCs

Regenerative Medicine Initiative (RMI) Awards for USC-affiliated faculty members pursuing multi-investigator research collaborations related to stem cells

• 2013–2014: Gregor Adams and Fatih Uckun; Impact of CD22ΔE12 genetic defect on fate of lymphoid-biased stem cells in the hematopoietic stem cell niche
• 2013–2014: Gage Crump, Jay Lieberman and Francesca Mariani; Healing of critical sized bone defects with periosteal dual fate skeletal progenitors
• 2013–2014: Justin Ichida, Takahiro Ohyama and Neil Segil; Differentiation of inner ear sensory neurons and hair cells through direct reprogramming

Broad Fellowships for exceptional senior postdoctoral researchers at the transition points to starting their own stem cell laboratories

• 2018–2019: Oihana Iriondo (Yu Lab); Elucidating tumor progression
• 2017–2018: Ksenia Gnedeva (Segil Lab); Role of Hippo-Yap signaling in organ of Corti development and regeneration
• 2017–2018: Michaela Patterson (Sucov Lab); Exploiting natural variation to understand mechanisms of adult mammalian heart regeneration
• 2016–2017: Joanna Smeeton (Crump Lab); Endogenous stem cells in cartilage and ligament regeneration
• 2015–2016: Gabriel R. Linares (Ichida Lab); The role of C9ORF72 protein function in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• 2014–2015: Lori O’Brien (McMahon Lab); Defining the role of the epigenetic regulator Phf19 in nephron progenitor maintenance

Choi Family Postdoctoral Fellowships to increase the diversity of our outstanding community of postdoctoral trainees pursuing stem cell research

• 2019–2020: Marcella Birtele (Quadrato Lab)
• 2018–2019: Ebony Flowers (Yu Lab)
• 2017–2018: D’Juan Farmer (Crump Lab)

Hearst Fellowships for exceptional junior postdoctoral fellows pursuing stem cell research

• 2017–2018: Peter Fabian (Gage Crump Lab); Single-cell analysis of skeletal and connective tissue progenitors in the zebrafish face
• 2016–2017: Adnan Chowdhury (Rong Lu Lab); Deciphering the heterogeneous response of hematopoietic stem cells during infection by integrating single cell transcriptome analysis and clonal tracking
• 2015–2016: Albert Kim (McMahon Lab); Characterization of in vivo and in vitro nephrogenesis

Audrey E. Streedain Postdoctoral Excellence Awards for postdoctoral trainees pursuing stem cell research

• 2018: Lindsey Barske (Crump Lab)
• 2018: Michaela Patterson (Sucov Lab)

Audrey E. Streedain Postdoctoral Travel Awards for postdoctoral trainees in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine

USC Stem Cell Challenge Grants for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars pursuing interdisciplinary research collaborations related to stem cells

• 2020: Jiawen Chen (Dickman Lab), Yichen Li (Ichida Lab), and Jeffrey Santoso (McCain Lab); Engineering a 3D model towards investigating neuromuscular junction degeneration in ALS
• 2020: Katelyn Millette (Georgia Lab) and Anna Kamitakahara (Levitt Lab); Modeling neural development of gut-brain circuits using human iPSCs
• 2020: Joycelyn Yip (McCain Lab) and Jean-Paul Urenda (Quadrato Lab); A next generation human multi-organoids-based platform to model neurodevelopmental disorders following physiological stimulation
• 2020: Youngjoo Lee (Evseenko Lab), Arijita Sarkar (Evseenko Lab) and Mathi Thiruppathy (Crump Lab); Exploring the role of SERPINF1 in chondrocytes and cartilage development in human and zebrafish
• 2020: John Nguyen (Segil Lab) and Zipeng Zeng (Li Lab); Investigating the role of de novo heterochromatin in cochlear supporting cell and ureteric bud progenitor cell maturation

Doerr Stem Cell Challenge Grants for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars pursuing interdisciplinary research collaborations related to stem cells

• 2016–2017: Kate Galloway (Ichida Lab) and Haoze (Vincent) Yu (Segil Lab); Building a motor neuron enhancer map using ATM-ChIPseq
• 2015–2016: Ang Li (Chuong Lab) and Yuwei Li (Fraser Lab); Novel imaging studies of bioelectric cues regulating collective behavior of skin progenitor cells
• 2015–2016: Lindsey Mork (Crump Lab) and Michaela Patterson (Sucov Lab); Utilizing the zebrafish to test the function of a novel GWAS-identified candidate gene in heart regeneration