Dr. Morsut is developing synthetic biology approaches for mammalian multicellular systems. His laboratory is engineering synthetic cell-cell communication pathways to advance tissue engineering applications as well as the fundamental understanding of multicellular dynamics.
Stories
By exerting “crowd control” over mouse cells, scientists make progress towards engineering tissues
Genes aren’t the sole driver instructing cells to build multicellular structures, tissues, and organs. In a new paper published in Nature Communications, USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut and Caltech computational biologist …
A green light to build muscle cells on command
It may sound like something from science fiction. To grow and modify muscle tissue in the lab using technology that shapes the muscle cells, blood vessels and nerves into whatever pattern you …
Building an Incubator for Medicine of the 21st Century
USC Stem Cell is pleased to introduce our new publication. We hope you’ll enjoy reflecting back on our history, while looking ahead to the transformative times to come. Read now at https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/wp-content/themes/stemcell/incubator.
Three USC Stem Cell undergraduates expand their horizons, thanks to Neil Segil Travel Scholarships
Few scientists will ever forget the first time they presented their research at a conference. Thanks to the Neil Segil Stem Cell Travel Scholarships, three USC Stem Cell undergraduate researchers recently experienced …
USC Stem Cell’s journey towards 1,000 mini-kidneys begins with $1 million from KidneyX
To help patients in need of transplants, artificial kidneys would have to function like their natural counterparts, but they wouldn’t necessarily have to look like them. With a new $1 million prize …
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 …
USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut awarded $2.5 million NIH grant to explore “synthetic” embryonic development
Whether in an earthworm or a human being, developmental processes are driven by complex networks of genetically-encoded signals that enable cells to take cues from each other and their environment. To begin …
Brain development and disorder research receives $1.5 million NSF boost
The human brain is an incredibly complex organ to study in its living tissue form. Researchers cannot experiment on human tissue directly, and animal models are often too different to human physiology …
USC brings the world’s largest stem cell conference to Los Angeles
For the first time ever, the City of Los Angeles hosted the world’s largest stem cell conference. By choosing Los Angeles as the host city for this major annual meeting, the International …
USC Stem Cell junior faculty balance babies with biomedical research
Growing stem cells isn’t just something junior faculty do in the lab. Eight of the junior faculty in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine recently welcomed new babies into …
USC Stem Cell and BCRegMed Virtual Symposium brings Canada to California
It didn’t require plane tickets to bring together scientists from USC Stem Cell in Los Angeles and BCRegMed in Vancouver. During October’s Virtual Symposium, videoconferencing technology enabled these scientists to share ideas …
At the retreat for USC’s stem cell department, the students become the masters
Students and trainees took center stage at the annual retreat for USC’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. They presented their latest research to the 180 stem cell scientists who …
Synthetic “tissues” build themselves
How do complex biological structures—an eye, a hand, a brain—emerge from a single fertilized egg? This is the fundamental question of developmental biology, and a mystery still being grappled with by scientists …
Scientists get into detail at the retreat for USC’s stem cell department
“The process of disease is about detail,” said Larry Goldstein, the director of the stem cell program at the University of California, San Diego, and keynote speaker at the retreat for USC’s …
USC alumna Amanda Kwieraga makes paintings from acrylic, wood and stem cell science
“Anyone who views something under a microscope or through a telescope will tell you that science is art, and that art is the perfect way to convey science,” said Amanda Kwieraga, an …
The faculty job search just got easier, thanks to two USC Stem Cell postdocs
“I think we’re all here for the same reason,” said Michaela Patterson, a postdoc in the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. “We’re considering …
USC’s stem cell scientists secure the dollars to fight disease
The price of progress is not only the energy and talent of stem cell scientists, but also the research dollars that support their discoveries. In recent months, faculty members have secured numerous …
From professional volleyball to stem cell biology, Leonardo Morsut is at the top of his game
For USC Stem Cell researcher Leonardo Morsut, the word “set” refers to a collection of scientific data. “Set” is also the prelude to spiking a volleyball over the net—something he used to do for a living as a professional athlete in Italy.
USC Stem Cell mini-symposium introduces next-generation researchers
The next generation of scientists is turning to stem cells to advance our understanding of systems ranging from the blood to the brain, from the liver to the lungs. Six of these …