USC Stem Cell

10/15/2025

How many did you get right? ✅

10/13/2025

Dean's POV 📸 Hi, I'm dean Carolyn Meltzer, MD. I am a photographer, radiologist, and dean of the Keck School. I am also an avid bicyclist, as you can see in this selfie we took on my recent ride.

I'm deeply committed to supporting our students, faculty, staff, and local community as they work to change the future of medicine and can't wait to share their efforts with you from my point of view.

Check back here every Monday for new pictures and stories.

10/07/2025

We’re proud to share that Drs. Denis Evseenko and Toby Maher have received a $3.2 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to develop a regenerative drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease that causes progressive scarring of the lungs.

Their research aims to restore damaged lung tissue and bring new hope to patients living with IPF.

Learn more about their groundbreaking work here: https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/physician-scientists-denis-evseenko-and-toby-maher-win-3-2-million-grant-from-the-national-institute-on-aging-to-develop-regenerative-drug-for-idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosis/.

It might start with a shortness of breath that’s easily dismissed as getting older or needing more exercise. But for the nearly 3 million patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), this subtle symptom rapidly worsens into a suffocating inability to breathe, often leading to a dangerous ele...

10/02/2025

CAR T cell therapy has revolutionized treatment for blood cancers, but solid tumors like prostate and ovarian cancer remain a challenge. Now, Dr. Saul Priceman and John P. Murad PhD, in collaboration with the City of Hope, have engineered next-gen CAR T cells that that shrink tough solid tumors safely, bringing hope beyond blood cancers.

This is a major step forward in making CAR T therapy work against the toughest cancers. Learn more: https://keck.usc.edu/news/next-generation-car-t-cells-could-expand-solid-cancer-treatment-options/.

10/01/2025

Exciting breakthrough: USC Stem Cell researchers create genuine embryonic stem cells from birds using egg yolk! Discover more: https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/study-generates-authentic-embryonic-stem-cell-from-birds/.

Egg whites may be perfect for a health-conscious breakfast, but egg yolks turned out to be the key ingredient for cultivating bird embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in the lab. Using a growing medium of egg yolk along with a few other key factors, a USC Stem Cell-led team of scientists has succeeded in de...

09/26/2025

Congratulations to USC COMPASS student Alara Berkmen for winning the Astronaut Scholarship award for her research on pediatric cancer.

Alara Berkmen, a biomedical engineering student, is recognized for leadership and dedication to cancer research.

09/25/2025

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Broad Collaborative Challenge Grants for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows at USC Stem Cell!

When learning to become a great scientist, the most important lesson might be how to collaborate. To encourage this essential skill, for the past decade, USC Stem Cell has awarded one-year challenge grants of up to $15,000 to small teams of PhD students and postdoctoral fellows launching cross-disci...

09/19/2025

Which signals drive cells to heal large-scale bone injuries? For exploring this question, USC Stem Cell PhD student Shuwan Liu won a 2025 Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Which signals drive cells to heal large-scale bone injuries? For her research into this question, USC Stem Cell PhD student Shuwan Liu has won a 2025 Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), a professional organization that brings together both clinic...

09/17/2025

In a Cell Stem Cell paper, a team led by Zhongwei Li at USC Stem Cell combines kidney filtering and urine-concentrating components to make “assembloids,” the most mature and complex kidney structures ever grown in a lab and a tool for developing new therapies. https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/team-makes-major-advance-toward-building-a-synthetic-kidney/

09/03/2025

A Nature Communications paper from Nils Lindström's lab at USC Stem Cell and the Keck School of Medicine of USC identifies key molecular switches that generate distinct cell types within the kidney’s filtering units, or nephrons. The lab is getting closer to making therapeutic kidney cells on demand! https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/scientists-unlock-blueprint-for-lab-grown-kidney-cells/

07/24/2025

Meet USC CIRM Scholar Alumnus Alex Quiyu Guo, Senior Scientist for Discovery Biomarkers at Amgen. https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/cirm-scholar-alumni-alex-qiuyu-guo/

07/23/2025

Partnering with USC Stem Cell and California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to train the next generation of leaders in stem cell research.

Since 2006, CIRM has supported 110 USC trainees including PhD students, postdocs, and clinical fellows, through $13.5M in funding. These scholars have gone on to drive innovation in academia, biotech, and patient care across California and beyond.

Together, we’re advancing science, shaping careers, and building the future of regenerative medicine.
https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/usc-trains-biotech-leaders-thanks-to-state-stem-cell-funding/