Undergraduate stem cell research takes the spotlight at USC CIRM COMPASS symposium
USC Stem Cell prepares undergraduates to present research and become the regenerative medicine workforce of the future. Stem cell research took center stage at the year-end symposium for the USC CIRM COMPASS …
USC researchers launch study of the most complex lab-grown kidney structures
A $2.1 million grant from CIRM supports the new project designed to understand how mature lab-grown kidney structures, which combine the kidney’s filtering and urine-collecting components, can improve the study of disease …
Driven to impact
Powered by her Ostrow experience, Heliya Ziaei is well positioned to blend research and patient care as a clinician-scientist. Though Heliya Ziaei, PhD ’26, arrived at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry …
USC CIRM COMPASS Scholar Tiffany Wang finds belonging, embraces research and leadership
A first-generation college student, Tiffany Wang treasures the support and opportunities for growth she found at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Tiffany Wang, member of the USC Leonard Davis School …
How early health challenges fueled two graduating seniors’ passion for medicine
Driven by their own experiences with childhood illness — along with breakthrough research experience and service to the community — two stand-out USC Dornsife students look forward to medical school. Born three …
From Maui to medicine, Viterbi helped her chart her own path
CLASS OF 2026 – The daughter of Turkish immigrant physicians, Maui-raised Alara Berkmen is graduating from USC Viterbi with a bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering on the pre-med track, a business club she …
USC Age Tech Symposium: Combining the latest tools with human-centered care
During the 2026 USC Age Tech Symposium, presenters discussed how advances in technology, including new artificial intelligence models and biomedical innovation, can transform aging research, care delivery, and health systems – but …
How watching living cells could transform disease research and treatment
USC biomedical engineer Keyue Shen has been elected to the AIMBE College of Fellows for developing tools that measure how living cells signal and interact in real time – without destroying them. …
USC-led team receives funding to build next-generation medical device that uses tears to monitor health
Researchers from USC and the California Institute of Technology aim to develop a tiny sensor and drug delivery system, implanted near the eye, with dry eye disease as its first target. A …
2026–2027 Broad Collaborative Challenge Grant for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows
To stimulate interdisciplinary and creative trainee-directed stem cell research Overview USC Stem Cell invites applications for the Broad Collaborative Challenge Grant for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows. The goal of the program …
USC honors stem cell leader Andy McMahon with a lifetime achievement award
The award recognizes McMahon’s career advancing developmental biology and building scientific communities, including USC Stem Cell. As a pioneer in developmental biology and founder of USC Stem Cell, Andy McMahon, PhD, FRS, …
A “stemness checkpoint” helps control stem cell identity
Building on the concept that blocking differentiation into specialized cell types maintains stem cells, USC and NIH scientists identify GSK3α as a checkpoint across diverse stem cell types. A study published in …
How an unexpected finding turned into a kidney disease startup
USC researcher Eunji Chung spent over a decade learning to steer nanoparticles through the body. Now she’s using that knowledge to take on one of the most common inherited kidney disorders. Eunji …
Four Keck School of Medicine of USC researchers elected as senior members of the National Academy of Inventors
Honorees have created technologies for fighting cancer and other diseases by harnessing the immune system, DNA and the mechanisms that control gene expression. The National Academy of Inventors (NAI), a nonprofit member …
USC physician-scientist Mohamed Abou-el-Enein named Outstanding New Investigator by the American Society of Gene + Cell Therapy
In addition, Abou-el-Enein, lab member Amaia Cadinanos-Garai and their co-authors received the Best of Molecular Therapy Award for their paper describing a new tool for identifying which CAR T cells are best …
Stem Cell Day demystifies the world of science for high school students
With support from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), USC Stem Cell welcomes teens to campus for education and outreach that opens their eyes to future career possibilities. The buzzer chimed, …
USC announces joint biomedical engineering department, bridging medical and engineering schools
Building on decades of collaboration between the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the department reimagines the expansion of biomedical engineering into medicine. The Keck …
USC receives funding for AI tool to advance treatment for rare pediatric diseases
With up to $6.8 million in funding, USC researchers will develop an AI-driven framework to strengthen how evidence is generated for gene and cell therapies, helping to bring promising treatments closer to …
USC Stem Cell doctoral student Wynnie Nguyen aims to shift paradigms in Alzheimer’s research
Nguyen was awarded a grant from the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund for studies aiming to stimulate growth of new brain cells and, ultimately, reverse the course of dementia. For USC Stem Cell PhD …
Meet the scholarship recipients in USC’s stem cell master’s program
Four scholarship recipients combine medicine with mentorship and science with service. From authoring a bilingual STEM coloring book to mentoring biotechnology students at Los Angeles Mission College, this year’s scholarship recipients in …