USC Stem Cell

Dr. Georgia Quadrato in a laboratory coat and gloves is placing or retrieving a container from an incubator filled with similar jars. They are standing in a lab environment, focusing on their task.

Congratulations to Dr. Giorgia Quadrato on her @isscr.org Early Career Award Honorable Mention! A global leader in human brain organoid research, she's driving breakthroughs in neuroscience, developmental biology & regenerative medicine. So well deserved!

https://bit.ly/40RFE0B

Headshot of Ksenia Geneva, PhD, in front of a building surrounded by greenery.

We are thrilled to congratulate Dr. Ksenia Gnedeva on receiving the 2026 Geraldine Dietz Fox Young Investigator Award from the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (@aro-mwm.bsky.social) for her work in understanding the development and regeneration of the inner ear's sensory hearing cells.

The image is an advertisement for the Keck School of Medicine of USC, promoting its Master of Science in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. It highlights features such as nationally recognized faculty, hands-on experience, and optional second year with thesis. A colorful cellular image is displayed on the right side, alongside a QR code for registration. Text at the top mentions current application acceptance and an information session on Zoom scheduled for February 20th at 1 pm.

Take a journey into the world of stem cell biology with our Masters program at USC! Our application portal is open! If you would like to learn more, please register for our INFO SESSION on Feb. 20, by clicking here: bit.ly/3JqJJUu.

USC launches a new Center for Stem Cell Engineering on the Health Sciences Campus A stem cell is not only a biological mystery, but also an engineering challenge—a structure to shape, a system to measure, and a dataset to decode. To meet this challenge, USC is launching the new Cen...

USC is launching the new Center for Stem Cell Engineering, a collaboration between @keckschoolusc.bsky.social and USC Viterbi. The center will bring together biologists, engineers, and physicians to translate discoveries into therapies.

https://bit.ly/4qnDd1e

Tricking Tumors into Marking Themselves for Destruction - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering New research from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering harnesses focused ultrasound to reprogram solid tumors, making them more effective targets for immune cells.

USC biomedical engineers have found a way to make a solid tumor paint a target on its own back in order to train the body’s immune system to find and destroy it. Learn more: https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2025/11/tricking-tumors-into-marking-themselves-for-destruction/

Take a journey into the world of stem cell biology with our Masters program at USC! Our application portal is open! If you would like to learn more, please register for our INFO SESSIONS Jan.9 and Feb. 20, HERE: bit.ly/3JqJJUu

Can stem cells rebuild skeletal muscle? Albert Almada, PhD, from USC Stem Cell explains.

Did you know that your body makes about 2 million blood cells every second? Dr. Rong Lu’s lab studies how hematopoietic regeneration is regulated and how we could improve bone marrow transplantation to help patients with blood disorders such as leukemia, anemia, and immune deficiencies.

From left: Chuck Murry, MD, PhD; Summer Decker, PhD; Hussein Yassine, MD (Photo/Steve Cohn, Eden Dozier, Richard Carrasco)

At @keckschoolusc.bsky.social, trailblazing researchers are redefining what’s possible in medicine. Visionaries Drs. Chuck Murry, Summer Decker, and Hussein Yassine are leading breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s prevention, medical 3D printing and cardiac regeneration. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3MwWaj2

Group of people smiling at a potluck in an office, holding plates of food with a variety of dishes and snacks on the table in front of them.

Group of people seated at a table enjoying a meal together in a well-lit room.

Four people sitting at a table enjoying a meal together in a cafeteria-style setting, with beverages and food plates visible.

Three individuals seated at a table inside a room enjoying a meal together.

Happy Thanksgiving from our department! 🍂

Our department gathered to celebrate the season and we are grateful for the community that makes our work meaningful. Thank you to everyone who joined and helped make the event special. We are grateful for this community today and always.

What can we learn from people who live for 30-40 years with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons. The Ichida Lab is doing research in ALS to find out.

What can lizard tail regrowth teach us about regeneration?

Tom Lozito, PhD, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, breaks down the science, and how these insights could push his research forward.

Discovery May Point to Cell of Origin for Ewing Sarcoma CHLA researchers have uncovered a likely cell of origin for Ewing sarcoma, offering new insight into how this childhood cancer begins.

A new CHLA and @keckschoolusc.bsky.social study reveals that neural crest cells can be reprogrammed into tumor-forming cells—offering fresh insight into the origins of Ewing sarcoma.

Learn more here: https://bit.ly/4nNGGEU

Take a journey into the world of stem cell biology with our USC Stem Cell master's program @keckschoolusc.bsky.social! Our info session will take place on Nov. 20, and the application portal is open at https://gradadm.usc.edu.

Did you know zebrafish share many of the same genes as humans?

Gage Crump, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at USC Stem Cell, explains how this tiny fish is helping advance human health research.

@keckschoolusc.bsky.social

Promotional graphic for Keck School of Medicine of USC, featuring an overview of their Master of Science in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine program. Highlights include hands-on experience, nationally recognized faculty, and a growing field. A QR code for registering to a Zoom information session on November 20th is displayed alongside an image of cells under a microscope.

Take a journey into the world of stem cell biology with our USC Stem Cell master's program @keckschoolusc.bsky.social! Our info session will take place on Nov. 20, and the application portal is open at https://gradadm.usc.edu.

USC 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...

USC’s Drs. Denis Evseenko and Toby Maher earned a $3.2M NIH grant to develop a regenerative drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, advancing hope for lung regeneration and recovery. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4o3hOss.

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

USC Viterbi Student Wins Prestigious Astronaut Scholarship - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering Alara Berkmen, a biomedical engineering student, is recognized for leadership and dedication to cancer research.

Congratulations to USC COMPASS student Alara Berkmen for winning the Astronaut Scholarship award for her research on pediatric cancer. viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2025/09...

USC Stem Cell students and trainees win $15,000 collaborative research grants 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 g...

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Broad Collaborative Challenge Grants for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows at USC Stem Cell! stemcell.keck.usc.edu/students-and...

USC Stem Cell PhD student Shuwan Liu receives 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...

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. stemcell.keck.usc.edu/phd-student-...

Lab-grown kidney assembloid

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. stemcell.keck.usc.edu/team-makes-m...

Kidney images (Images by MaryAnne Achieng/Lindstrom Lab/USC Stem Cell)

A Nature Communications paper from Nils Lindström's lab at USC Stem Cell 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! stemcell.keck.usc.edu/scientists-u...

Alex Quiyu Guo

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

Stem cells are revolutionizing the way we approach healing. 🧪

Learn how Leonardo Morsut, PhD, with @stemcell.keck.usc.edu‬ and
‪@viterbischool.usc.edu‬ is leading the way in the field of regenerative medicine to ignite discovery in stem cell research.

#MedSky #Science

Kidney cells from #stemcells. Yep, it's happening.

Nils Lindström, PhD, with @lindstromlab.bsky.social at stemcell.keck.usc.edu explains the process of turning stem cells into organoids, a pathway to identifying new treatments for kidney disease.

#Science 🧪

Skeletal Maturity and Age‐Related Changes in Immune Cells and Circulatory Factors Impair Large‐Scale Bone Regeneration Although the ribs are the only human bones capable of regenerating large-scale defects, this remarkable ability declines with skeletal maturity and age. Here, we reproduce skeletal maturity and age-r....

Rib regeneration declines with age, but a new Aging Cell study shows young blood components can help. The study is a collaboration between corresponding authors Luciana Yamamoto de Almeida & Janice S. Lee from NIH, UCSF & Francesca Mariani from USC Stem Cell. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Joanna Smeeton

Meet USC’s CIRM Scholar Alumna Joanna Smeeton, Assistant Professor at Columbia University. stemcell.keck.usc.edu/cirm-scholar...

Guanyi Huang

Meet USC CIRM Scholar Alumnus Guanyi Huang, Associate Principal Scientist at Merck. stemcell.keck.usc.edu/meet-uscs-ci...

Vivian Medina

Meet USC CIRM Scholar Alumna Vivian Medina, Senior Manager of Digital and Data Analytics at Takeda, who pursues her career in science with the ultimate goal of helping people. stemcell.keck.usc.edu/meet-cirm-sc...