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, …

Can the novel coronavirus—SARS-CoV-2—cause diabetes? No one knows, but Senta Georgia, PhD, is trying to find out. Dr. Georgia, an investigator in The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, recently received a $100,000 peer-reviewed grant from the American Diabetes Association to examine the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on pancreatic beta cells (cells in the …

Surgeon-scientist Juliet Emamaullee, MD, PhD, spends much of her time seeing patients and performing pediatric liver transplants at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. But you’ll also find her in the lab—studying how to make those new livers last longer in children. “About half of the kids we transplant are transplanted before the age of 2,” explains …

Stefano Da Sacco, PhD, calls Wilms tumor “an underdog” in the research world. “If you go to the American Urological Association or other meetings, there aren’t many presentations or discussions about Wilms tumor,” Dr. Da Sacco says. “From my experience, it’s understudied. Not many basic scientists are working on it.” It’s a different story at …