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Yang Chai (Photo by Chris Shinn)

Yang Chai bridges the gap from the lab bench to the dental chair

As a young oral surgeon in China, Yang Chai often operated on babies born with cleft lips or palates. “You talk to the parents, and they were very emotional and trying find …

Eye treated for macular degeneration

RSVP for 6/26 USC Public Symposium on a stem cell-based approach to treating age-related blindness

A Public Symposium co-sponsored by USC Stem Cell and the Choi Family @ISSCCR 2019 RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bringing-stem-cells-to-patients-treating-age-related-blindness-tickets-62892259441#tickets Program *Spanish translation available. 6:30 p.m. Registration and free food 7–8 p.m. Andrew P. McMahon, …

Fluorescent image of intestinal stem and progenitor cells. Cells like these can grow into engineered intestinal tissue in the laboratory. Eventually, Dr. Grikscheit hopes engineered intestine can help babies born with severe gastrointestinal challenges.

Tissue engineering: The big picture on growing small intestines

Babies born prematurely often face intense medical challenges, including intestines that are underdeveloped or diseased. While an intestine transplant can benefit some patients, many babies are simply too small to endure this …

Pat Levitt (Photo courtesy of CHLA)

Critical windows when experience shapes the brain

Story courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Pat Levitt, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Simms/Mann Chair in Developmental Neurogenetics, received a $3.7M grant from the National Institute …

From left, Muniza Junaid and Anson Tam (Photo by Cristy Lytal)

Countdown to Commencement: Anson Tam brings the Hawaii perspective to surgery, research and swimming

Anson Tam is an aspiring doctor from Honolulu, who brings a hardworking, sun loving, laid back Hawaiian attitude to swimming, research and surgery. Tam was initially inspired to become a doctor by …

How the roots of teeth develop has long been a mystery. Professor Yang Chai aims to change that — and eventually regrow the roots of teeth.

Researchers seek the root of tooth development

The lower two-thirds of a tooth are known as the root. Normally covered in bone, they anchor the tooth into the jaw. But the exact mechanisms and pathways that create the root …

From right, USC Stem Cell scientists Francesca Mariani and Stephanie T. Kuwahara (Photo by Sergio Bianco)

Messenger cells bring good news for bone healing

How do bones heal, and how could they heal better? The answer to these questions may lie in a newly discovered population of “messenger” cells, according to a recent USC Stem Cell …

Janet Moradian-Oldak (Photo by Vern Evans)

Regrowing enamel? USC Dental Professor Janet Moradian-Oldak is on the case

Dental enamel is tricky stuff. Even though it’s the body’s hardest material, if it wears away from cavities, acidic food or drinks or overbrushing, it doesn’t regenerate.  All that could change in …

Killifish

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)

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 …

Pat Levitt (Photo courtesy of CHLA)

Neural development of 2-month-old infants shows effect of maternal stress

Story courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles A study of 70 mothers and their infants suggests that the impact of maternal stress on neurodevelopment is detectable by electroencephalography (EEG) at 2 months …

Carol L. Folt will become the 12th president of the University of Southern California. (USC Photo/Gus Ruelas)

Carol L. Folt to become USC’s 12th president

Noted life scientist, teacher and academic leader Carol L. Folt will become the University of Southern California’s 12th president, the USC Board of Trustees announced today. Formerly chancellor of the University of North …

Bérénice Benayoun (Photo courtesy of the USC Davis School of Gerontology)

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 …

David Cobrinik

What makes a cell turn cancerous?

Story courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Retinoblastoma is a tumor of the retina that generally affects children under 5 years of age and accounts for approximately 4% of childhood cancers. If …

Gage Crump (Photo courtesy of Gage Crump)

USC Stem Cell scientist Gage Crump gives a bare bones explanation of eLife skeletal development study

How do our skeletons form during embryonic development? To approach this question, PhD student Dion Giovannone, research scientist Sandeep Paul and the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Gage Crump looked to our …

Eli and Edythe Broad (Photo by Ben Gibbs)

Eli and Edythe Broad to receive honorary degrees at USC commencement ceremony

USC will recognize philanthropists Edythe and Eli Broad and five other honorary degree candidates for their leadership in government, science, philanthropy, humanitarianism and the arts at the university’s 136th commencement ceremony on …

Illustration of the colon

Fasting-mimicking diet holds promise for treating people with inflammatory bowel disease, USC study finds

What if a special diet could reduce inflammation and repair your gut? USC researchers provided evidence that a low-calorie “fasting-mimicking” diet has the potential to do just that. Published in the March …

Findings published in Biomaterials Special Issue of the Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society

USC dental researchers developing special film that could revolutionize the way peri-implantitis treated

Three million people in the United States currently have dental implants, and every year that number increases by about 500,000. But, for some, getting a dental implant is not the end of …

From left, Lina R. Nih, stem cell scientists Daniel Wagner, Unmesh Jadhav, Karthik Shehkar and Anastasia Tikhonova (Photo by Sergio Bianco)

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 …

Giorgia Quadrato (Photo by Sergio Bianco)

Stem cell scientist Giorgia Quadrato joins USC’s brain trust

Giorgia Quadrato loves a good challenge. That’s why USC’s newest assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine currently spends her time growing 3D networks of human nerve cells, called brain …