Three scientists from Keck Medicine of USC have won grants exceeding $4.3 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for research that includes creating a temporary liver for patients, finding novel ways to treat immune disorders and blood diseases, and developing new animal models for heart failure, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. The grants, …

Hearts are tough organs. Over the course of a lifetime, they beat ever second of every day, keeping the entire body nourished with life-giving blood. But, even with all that stamina, heart tissue lacks the ability to regenerate after significant trauma like a heart attack. There are some heart cells that do have the ability …

Basic science can often be far from basic—especially for Jian Xu, who believes cells are kind of like people. “In simple terms, we look at how cells determine their own fate,” said Xu, USC Stem Cell principal investigator and assistant professor at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC. “If we look at people …

Two collaborative teams within USC Stem Cell are developing new approaches that could eventually help patients with heart disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The teams are the winners of the Audrey E. Streedain Regenerative Medicine Initiative Awards, supported by a generous bequest by the Audrey E. Streedain Trust to the Department of …

One in every 2,000 babies is born with a skull that can’t grow normally. Various sections of these babies’ skulls are fused together at joints called sutures, constricting the developing brain and disrupting vision, sleep, eating and IQ. For these young patients, risky skull-expanding surgeries become an almost annual event. Now, three leading universities for …