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Researcher in the lab (Photo by Chris Shinn)

2023 Request for Proposals: Broad Clinical Research Fellow Program

A gift from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation established the Eli and Edythe Broad Clinical Research Fellows at USC. We plan to fund up to 3 positions, and successful applicants will …

At the lab bench (Photo by Chris Shinn)

2023 Call for Applications: CIRM Clinical Research Fellowship in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine

We have a 2-year position available for a clinical trainee who is interested in conducting research related to stem cell biology and/or regenerative medicine in one of the leading labs at USC. …

One-week-old zebrafish with jaw cartilage in blue, tendons in magenta and jaw muscles in white. (Image by Hung-Jhen (Olivia) Chen/Crump Lab)

How to assemble a complete jaw

A USC-led team of scientists has made a drool-worthy discovery about how tendons and salivary glands develop in the jaw. Their results are published in a new study in Developmental Cell. In …

Yulia Shwartz

For USC Stem Cell scientist Yulia Shwartz, science gives her goosebumps

When USC Stem Cell scientist Yulia Shwartz experiences the thrill of scientific discovery, she often thinks of a line that Charles Darwin wrote in The Voyage of the Beagle: “every traveller must …

Human induced motor neurons. Motor neurons are green, and neurons are purple. (Image courtesy of the Ichida Lab)

USC Stem Cell-led studies point the way to broadly effective treatments for ALS

Each year in the U.S., 5,000 patients receive a diagnosis of ALS, an incurable neurodegenerative disease that will likely kill them within two to five years. In the quest to find a …

The new lab’s collaborative structure promises to play a key role in the development of groundbreaking advancements in health care. (Photo/Steve Cohn)

New USC/CHLA cGMP Lab opens to accelerate next-generation cell therapy

A new laboratory designed to advance early-stage research into lifesaving, commercially viable therapies was celebrated on the USC Health Sciences Campus Tuesday night. Housed at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, the …

USC COMPASS program

COMPASS grant application open for undergraduates

We are pleased to announce that the application for the COMPASS scholarship is open! The USC COMPASS Program: Creating Opportunities through Mentorship and Partnership Across Stem Cell Science is a multidisciplinary collaboration …

Rong Lu Lab (Photo by Chris Shinn)

Why multipotent progenitor cells matter for patients receiving bone marrow transplants

When patients receive bone marrow transplants, they are infused with complex admixtures of many different cell types with the power to regenerate their blood and immune systems. In a new study in …

DNA (Image by Christoph Bock/Max Planck Institute for Informatics)

How to rewind the clock on arthritic cartilage … stat!

A new study in Aging Cell describes how a key protein, called Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3), might turn back the clock on aging cartilage that leads to osteoarthritis. …

Neuronal specification is compromised in Zfp462 deleted cells. Immunofluorescence images of wildtype (WT) and Zfp462 deleted (Zfp462 KO) cells during neural differentiation. The neuronal lineage marker SOX1 is shown in green and the endodermal lineage marker FOXA2 is in magenta. Non-neural cells are detected during the neural differentiation of Zfp462 KO cells. © Bell Lab / NCB /IMBA.

Weiss-Kruszka syndrome and the failure to establish neuronal identity

Weiss-Kruszka syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by craniofacial anomalies, developmental delay, and autistic features. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the …

Thomas Lozito and Donald the crested gecko (Photo by Sergio Bianco)

A Tale of tails: How reptile regeneration could help humans

“I’ve always been interested in science and in lizards. I got my first pet lizard when I was around 4 years old, and it was love at first sight,” says Thomas Lozito, …

From left, Cheryl Mae Craft, Justin Ichida and Dean Carolyn Meltzer (Photo by Greg Grudt/ Steve Cohn)

Justin Ichida honored as the inaugural John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation Associate Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at USC

In March 2020, Justin Ichida, PhD, was appointed to a prestigious endowed professorship at Keck School of Medicine of USC through a generous philanthropic gift from the John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation. …

(Image courtesy of Getty Images)

Method developed by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles researchers automates brain cell mapping

Neuroscience graduate students at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have developed an automated method that could save time and work for laboratories around the country by streamlining the process of identifying and mapping …

Professor Justin Ichida leads a class for USC's stem cell master's students (Photo by Chris Shinn)

Scholarships change lives in USC’s stem cell master’s program: Five students’ stories

For one scholarship recipient in the master’s program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, USC is just close enough to his mother’s house to commute and save on rent. For another, …

(Photo courtesy of Megan Rexius-Hall)

Saving lives: Heart attack on a chip

Megan McCain has always enjoyed building and fixing things. She also has long been fascinated by cells in the human body and how they work together to achieve important tasks, like how …

Kuo-Chang (Ted) Tseng from the Crump Lab and Michelle Hung from the Ichida Lab enjoy a beachside brainstorm.

Scientists feel the sand between their toes at the retreat for USC’s stem cell department

A pair of young scientists picked up a piece of driftwood and thoughtfully traced a series of letters in the wet sand of Ventura Beach. The word “microglia”—referring to the immune cells …

Image courtesy of the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC

Mini organs pave the way for understanding gastroesophageal cancer

USC researcher Dechen Lin has created miniature organs — with the hope of fighting a rare type of cancer. CANCERS THAT IMPACT THE JUNCTION of the esophagus and the stomach are rare …

Jean Chen Shih’s areas of expertise include brain development, autism spectrum disorder and repurposing antidepressants for brain cancer and prostate cancer. (Photo/Courtesy of the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Pioneering pharmacy professor learned early to work hard and help others

Editor’s note: Title IX — the landmark legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding — was signed into law on June 23, 1972. In recognition of this anniversary, we’ll …

Left to right: Roger De Filippo, MD, Stefano Da Sacco, PhD, Laura Perin, PhD

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles receives NIH awards for research into combating childhood kidney failure

In children with progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD), loss of kidney function is mostly irreversible. The GOFARR Laboratory for Organ Regenerative Research and Cell Therapeutics in Urology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles …

USC and CHLA awarded $8 million to expand access to cell and gene therapy clinical trials

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency, has awarded a five-year, $8 million grant to the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). …