Dr. McMahon’s laboratory explores the mechanisms that maintain stem/progenitor cells and regulate their differentiation to mature cell types of different organ systems, particularly the kidney. By combining genetic and genomic approaches with high resolution imaging, his group is aiming to obtain a deeper understanding of stem cell biology and to develop novel therapeutic strategies for regenerative medicine.

Stories

Students; featured image for California’s stem cell agency awards USC $5 million to train scientists and clinicians

California’s stem cell agency awards USC $5 million to train scientists and clinicians

USC has been awarded a $5 million training grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to prepare PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and clinical fellows for careers in stem cell research. …

Impromptu McMahon lab meeting; featured image for USC Stem Cell: An incubator for medicine of the 21st century

USC Stem Cell: An incubator for medicine of the 21st century

Just over a decade ago, USC was a university with a few scattered stem cell biologists, and a vision for total transformation. The university was committed to designing a unique “incubator” for …

By superimposing images of several of the kidney’s filtering units, known as nephrons, researchers can visualize how little these structures deviate from a stereotypical developmental trajectory.; featured image for USC-led study traces the blueprints for how human kidneys form their filtering units

USC-led study traces the blueprints for how human kidneys form their filtering units

When it comes to building a kidney, only nature possesses the complete set of blueprints. But a USC-led team of scientists has managed to borrow some of nature’s pages through a comprehensive …

Scott Fraser by Noe Montes; featured image for USC Professor Scott E. Fraser redefines impossible problems

USC Professor Scott E. Fraser redefines impossible problems

USC Professor Scott E. Fraser is known for inventing new microscopes and other tools to observe living, developing embryos. But one of his lab’s most important pieces of technology filters coffee instead …

A mouse kidney one month after acute injury. Cells that proliferated in response to the injury are shown in green. (Image by Louisa M. S. Gerhardt/McMahon Lab); featured image for The same cell type can help or hinder repair after acute kidney injury

The same cell type can help or hinder repair after acute kidney injury

The USC Stem Cell laboratory of Andy McMahon has identified a type of injured cell that might contribute to the transition from an acute kidney injury to chronic kidney disease, as described …

kidney organoid; featured image for USC Stem Cell scientists make big progress in building mini-kidneys

USC Stem Cell scientists make big progress in building mini-kidneys

A team of scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC has created what could be a key building block for assembling a synthetic kidney. In a new study in Nature …

Broad Directors with Broads at ISSCR 2019; featured image for Remembering Eli Broad

Remembering Eli Broad

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Eli Broad. Eli and Edythe’s philanthropy in the arts, science and education have been transformative. Eli approached philanthropy with an …

Robert E. Maxson; featured image for USC celebrates Robert E. Maxson’s lifetime of achievement and adventure

USC celebrates Robert E. Maxson’s lifetime of achievement and adventure

USC Emeritus Professor Robert E. Maxson has an understated explanation for why he’s flown so many planes, sailed so many boats, skied so many mountains, played so many guitars, taken so many …

Impromptu McMahon lab meeting; featured image for USC Stem Cell study identifies molecular “switch” that turns precursors into kidney cells

USC Stem Cell study identifies molecular “switch” that turns precursors into kidney cells

Kidney development is a balancing act between the self-renewal of stem and progenitor cells to maintain and expand their numbers, and the differentiation of these cells into more specialized cell types. In …

Dion Dickman, Megan McCain, and Justin Ichida; featured image for Scientists Justin Ichida and Dion Dickman: USC’s coolest tenured professors from Hawaii

Scientists Justin Ichida and Dion Dickman: USC’s coolest tenured professors from Hawaii

Now that Justin Ichida and Dion Dickman are both tenured professors at USC, they no longer have to worry about who was the coolest kid in their elementary schools back in Honolulu. …

Tracy Tran; featured image for USC Stem Cell PhD student Tracy Tran: Celebrating the journey of a budding developmental biologist

USC Stem Cell PhD student Tracy Tran: Celebrating the journey of a budding developmental biologist

As a child in Vietnam, Tracy Tran helped her family run a small business importing porcelain products from China and assumed she would follow in their footsteps. Neither of her parents had …

Happy 10th Anniversary, BCC!; featured image for Happy 10th anniversary to USC’s stem cell research center

Happy 10th anniversary to USC’s stem cell research center

On October 29, 2010, we opened the doors of the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. Today, on the 10th anniversary of the …

USC's stem cell research center

California’s biggest stem cell experiment: The impact of the stem cell ballot proposition at USC

In 2008, USC broke ground on an $80 million building dedicated solely to stem cell research and regenerative medicine. The plans called for a monolithic structure clad in black marble and reflective …

Remote learning; featured image for USC Stem Cell’s high school program Zooms ahead

USC Stem Cell’s high school program Zooms ahead

In late February 2020, 10 local high school juniors gathered at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC for the first meeting of a …

SARS-CoV-2; featured image for USC Stem Cell scientists use “mini-lungs” and lung models to understand COVID-19

USC Stem Cell scientists use “mini-lungs” and lung models to understand COVID-19

USC scientists are testing out experimental COVID-19 treatments on human “mini-lungs” and lung models, grown in the laboratory using stem cells. With names such as organoids and lung-chips, these simplified, lung-like structures …

Andy McMahon (Photo by Christina Gandolfo); featured image for A Message from Director and Chair Andy McMahon

A Message from Director and Chair Andy McMahon

I hope that this message finds you safe and well. As we return to our labs, I thought this would be a good time to let you know about what has been …

Qi-Long Ying; featured image for Shanghai Cell Therapy Group launches collaboration with USC researcher to improve the ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells for clinical applications

Shanghai Cell Therapy Group launches collaboration with USC researcher to improve the ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells for clinical applications

Shanghai Cell Therapy Group (SHCell) recently entered into a six-year research collaborative project with Professor Qi-Long Ying from the University of Southern California (USC). Through the project, sponsored by $3.6 million from …

Andrew P. McMahon; featured image for USC Professor Andrew P. McMahon elected to the National Academy of Sciences

USC Professor Andrew P. McMahon elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Andrew P. McMahon—who is the W.M. Keck Provost and University Professor in USC’s departments of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, and Biological Sciences at the …

Long Cai; featured image for The Broad Foundation brings together stem cell scientists, engineers and physicians at USC and beyond

The Broad Foundation brings together stem cell scientists, engineers and physicians at USC and beyond

Developing new stem cell therapies requires more than a solo biologist having a eureka moment alone in the lab. Real progress relies on collaborations between biologists, engineers and physicians. That’s why The …

In-Part Discover; featured image for USC finds new routes to industry engagement and funding

USC finds new routes to industry engagement and funding

Story courtesy of In-Part Over the last year, Dr. Qing Liu-Michael, Program Director at USC Stem Cell and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at …