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, …

Stem cells are the seeds that grow our hearts, brains, lungs, intestines—every one of the body’s tissues and organs. By studying stem cells and their potential to replace damaged or dysfunctional cells, researchers are gaining knowledge to better understand diseases and develop new treatments, including for many common childhood conditions. Researchers at Children’s Hospital Los …

Tracy Grikscheit helps babies with digestive disorders. Stem cells could help her develop life-changing treatments. It’s an instinct many surgeons have: Whatever you have to remove, replace it with something better. Something that helps. Tracy Grikscheit hopes to get there one day with the tiny patients she serves. Grikscheit is a principal investigator 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 glass, rising five stories and enclosing nearly 90,000 square feet. When it was completed, the university had a stunning new contemporary research space …

The human body has what is sometimes called a “second brain” in the digestive tract. The enteric nervous system (ENS) performs many vital functions, including coordinating the movement of food to allow the body to absorb nutrients. When babies are born with an incomplete or absent ENS, their prognosis is extremely serious. In a new …

Babies born prematurely often face intense medical challenges, including intestines that are underdeveloped or diseased. While an intestine transplant can benefit some patients, many babies are simply too small to endure this procedure. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles surgeon Tracy Grikscheit, MD, is a leader in the field of tissue engineering – growing intestines from stem …

Article courtesy of CHLA.org Tracy Grikscheit, MD, is a fixer. In the operating room at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, she specializes in helping babies born with severe bowel dysfunction. She’s one of the leading pediatric surgeons specializing in intestinal disorders, and saving the lives of infants is a major part of her job. Grikscheit, an …

Currently, the only therapy for metabolic liver disease is an organ transplant. Tracy Grikscheit MD, an attending physician and regenerative medicine scientist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, hopes to change that reality. She has been awarded nearly $1.3 million by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to study stem cell therapy for liver failure.

The lymph nodes, liver and kidney are not passive filters for toxins, but complex organ systems that perform an astonishing array of critical functions. To help patients who have suffered damage to these organ systems, this year’s Broad Clinical Research Fellows are pioneering new regenerative strategies.

A research team led by investigators at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has generated functional human and mouse tissue-engineered liver from adult stem and progenitor cells. Tissue-engineered Liver (TELi) was found to contain normal structural components such as hepatocytes, bile ducts and blood vessels. The study has been published online in …

The second cohort of Broad Clinical Research Fellows is making strides towards finding stem cell-based therapies for lymphedema in cancer patients, large bone fractures and short bowel syndrome.

Tracy C. Grikscheit, a principal investigator with USC Stem Cell and The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, has received a $7.1 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Translational Research program to develop a cellular therapy for the treatment of nerve disorders of the digestive system. These disorders, called enteric …

This year, the Broad Clinical Research Fellowships are enabling physician-investigators to explore stem cell-based approaches related to four very different medical conditions: breast cancer, kidney disease, deafness and short bowel syndrome. Each one-year fellowship provides $65,000 of salary support, $7,500 of supplies and a $1,500 meeting allowance to support full-time research related to stem cell …

USC Stem Cell investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) are providing new hope for babies with short bowel syndrome (SBS) by developing a novel model of SBS in zebrafish, described in a paper published online on June 18 by the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.

Working alone, a scientist or university can only make so much progress in finding answers to basic questions or new treatments for diseases ranging from HIV to cancer to diabetes. That’s why nearly 300 scientists from USC, UCLA and UCSF gathered in Santa Barbara for a Tri-institutional Stem Cell Retreat. Hosted by USC at the …

Provost Michael Quick convened the inaugural USC Stem Cell Symposium with a straightforward truth about the future of regenerative medicine: “it will take a dedicated community of scholars across the disciplines to have maximum impact.” The January 16 symposium brought together precisely such a community, with speakers hailing from USC’s schools of medicine, dentistry, gerontology …

A new study by researchers at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has shown that small intestine grown from human cells replicates key aspects of a functioning human intestine. The small intestine they developed contains important elements of the mucosal lining and support structures, including the ability to absorb sugars, and even tiny or ultra-structural components like …

Video courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Tracy Grikscheit, MD, really has her priorities straight. “It goes: surgery, science, skiing. That’s the order,” said Grikscheit, principal investigator with USC Stem Cell and The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, attending surgeon at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and assistant professor of surgery at the …

The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Annual Symposium, held on Feb. 21, focused on the promise of regenerative medicine and cellular therapies — from curing HIV to building organs such as kidneys and intestines. The panel of speakers included investigators from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, USC, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University …

Faculty researchers and clinicians from the Keck School of Medicine of USC are among more than 170 speakers who will discuss their efforts to zero in on disease cures at an international conference organized to highlight the progress of stem cell research. The World Stem Cell Summit 2011 takes place Oct. 3–5 at the Pasadena …