Mark Humayun named inaugural director of the USC Eye Institute

By Leslie Ridgeway

Mark Humayun with the Argus II artificial retina implant. (Photo/Jon Nalick) Mark Humayun with the Argus II artificial retina implant.
(Photo/Jon Nalick)

Mark Humayun, MD, PhD, internationally known for his work on the Argus II artificial retina implant intended to restore sight to the blind, has been named the inaugural director of the USC Eye Institute and interim chair of the USC Department of Ophthalmology.

In his new role, Humayun will take the reins in overseeing advanced surgical techniques and comprehensive care for patients. He will also continue to lead and guide cutting edge transformative research. … Read More »

November 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

$4 million grant received to study links between maternal stress and childhood obesity

By Sara Reeve

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has awarded a five-year, $4 million grant to a USC research team to discover whether stress in the lives of working mothers influences risk of childhood obesity in their children.

The project, “Maternal Stress and Children’s Obesity Risk,” led by Genevieve Dunton, PhD, MPH, will monitor stress levels in mothers through a smartphone app, as well as through salivary cortisol. … Read More »

November 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

A SAFE HARBOR FOR PATIENTS

Third-year Keck School of Medicine of USC medical student Martin Tolosa examines a patient at the four-day Care Harbor clinic held Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. (Photo/Jon Nalick) Third-year Keck School of Medicine of USC medical student Martin Tolosa examines a patient at the four-day Care Harbor clinic held Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
(Photo/Jon Nalick)

The annual Care Harbor event provides free medical and dental care to hundreds of people who have limited or no access to health care. (Photo/Jon Nalick) The annual Care Harbor event provides free medical and dental care to hundreds of people who have limited or no access to health care.
(Photo/Jon Nalick)

… Read More »

November 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

First Zilkha Alzheimer’s Mini-Symposium examines vascular system connections

By Christine Chan and Amy E. Hamaker

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and more than five million Americans live with the disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Conquering Alzheimer’s was the focus of the first Zilkha Mini­ Symposium on Alzheimer’s Research at USC.

The symposium, held on Aug. 26 in honor of a visit by
the Alzheimer’s Association’s Maria Carrillo, PhD, and Susan Galeas, MSW, MPH, covered a variety of topics, including brain imaging and mapping, genomics, the blood-brain barrier, new therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease and an overview of clinical research at USC. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

Faculty-produced cancer education film receives prestigious public health award

By Larissa Puro

In this screen capture from the short film Tamale Lesson, the fictional Romeo family discusses cervical cancer screening while making tamales for a Quinceanera. In this screen capture from the short film Tamale Lesson, the fictional Romeo family discusses cervical cancer screening while making tamales for a Quinceanera.

The USC faculty-produced short film Tamale Lesson, which uses narrative storytelling to educate women about cervical cancer screening, received the 2013 APHA Public Health Education & Health Promotion Award for best multimedia material from the American Public Health Association at its annual meeting Nov. 2-6 in Boston.

Cervical cancer is largely preventable and treatable. However, some populations — Latina and Korean women, especially — are not adequately screened, which leads to disproportionately high rates of the disease among them. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

Experimental drug reduces brain damage, eliminates brain hemorrhaging in rodents afflicted by stroke

By Alison Trinidad

An experimental drug called 3K3A-APC appears to reduce brain damage, eliminate brain hemorrhaging and improve motor skills in older stroke-afflicted mice and stroke-afflicted rats with comorbid conditions such as hypertension, according to a new study from Keck Medicine of USC.

The study, which appears online in the journal Stroke, provides additional evidence that 3K3A-APC may be used as a therapy for stroke in humans, either alone or in combination with the FDA-approved clot-busting drug therapy tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy in people experiencing acute ischemic stroke are expected to begin recruiting patients in the United States in 2014. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

USC STEM CELL SOCIAL

(Photo/Cristy Lytal) (Photo/Cristy Lytal)

The dessert tray and cheese platter seemed self-renewing at the first USC Stem Cell Social, held on Oct. 25 at the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. Nearly 100 guests toured the labs, viewed research posters, voted on their favorite scientific images and mingled with researchers and faculty at this public event hosted by USC Stem Cell and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in honor of Stem Cell Awareness Day. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

Tiny technology may be the future of medicine

By Robert Perkins

Sometimes the smallest tools are required to tackle the biggest problems. At the forefront of innovative research on regenerative medicine and cancer treatment, experts from the top research institutions in the greater Los Angeles area converged for the first-ever UCLA-USC-Caltech Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine Symposium on Oct. 18. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

USC professor at CHLA awarded $9.5 million by NIH for sickle cell disease research

By Ellin Kavanagh

Thomas Coates, MD, professor of pediatrics and pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and section head of hematology in the division of hematology oncology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, along with four other co-principal investigators, recently received a five-year, $9.5 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The award will fund research into the underlying physiology of sickle cell disease (SCD) and identification of biomarkers that will aid in the development of new treatment options. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

Rare fetal cardiac procedure performed for the first time in Southern California by USC physicians at CHLA

By Lorenzo Benet

A mother and her 25-week-old fetus are doing well after a USC surgeon and pediatrician performed a successful in utero cardiac interventional procedure on the fetus at CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center late last month.

The minimally invasive procedure, known as a fetal aortic valvuloplasty, was a first for a Southern California hospital. Designed to treat a congenital heart defect known as critical aortic stenosis and evolving hypoplastic left heart syndrome, doctors succeeded in using a tiny balloon to open the fetus’s narrow aortic valve to increase blood flow to the body, improve left heart function and promote normal left heart growth during the critical third trimester growing stage. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

Cardiovascular symposium takes the pulse of current research

By Jennifer Jing and Cristy Lytal

Researchers addressed the leading cause of death in the United States at the Los Angeles Area Cardiovascular Research Symposium and Research Award Reception, which brought together the region’s cardiovascular specialists to examine the developmental origins of heart health and disease.

Held at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the event was the first meeting of its kind since 1997, when the American Heart Association (AHA) disbanded local chapters in favor of regional affiliates. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

Regulatory Science Students Visit Bay Area Manufacturers

By Laura Sturza

Six students from the USC School of Pharmacy’s regulatory science program received a dose of the real world this summer as they toured two of the San Francisco Bay Area’s major pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The students saw firsthand the operations at Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of biopharmaceuticals, and Stryker, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, on July 22.

Students from the program often tour companies in Southern California, with the goal of gaining additional views of real-world operations. … Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

USC researchers to grow organs to unlock secrets of how cancer tumors develop

By Leslie Ridgeway

Using three-dimensional organ creation, Keck Medicine of USC researchers aim to discover clues to metastatic cancer growth by developing a first-ever integrated bioengineered/computational model of metastatic colon cancer.

David B. Agus, MD, director of the USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine and professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is the principal investigator of a $2.3 million, four-year “Provocative Questions” grant awarded recently by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The project title is “An Integrative Computational and Bioengineered Tissue Model of Metastasis.” … Read More »

November 13th, 2013|Announcements|

Halloween on the Health Sciences Campus!

Halloween celebrations for kids of all ages took place on the Health Sciences Campus last week, both for spooky fun and to raise awareness for health research initiatives.

… Read More »

November 11th, 2013|Announcements|

Keck Hospital Guild celebrates at fall benefit

The Sports Museum of Los Angeles was the setting for the Keck Hospital of USC Guild’s Oct. 13 fall benefit, “Celebrate an Afternoon Among the Superstars.” Thanks to the generosity of the private museum’s owner and collector Gary Cypress, guests toured more than 30 galleries devoted to sports memorabilia spanning the late 19th century to the present. … Read More »

November 11th, 2013|Announcements|

Drug reduces brain damage, hemorrhaging in rodents afflicted by stroke

By Alison Trinidad

An experimental drug called 3K3A-APC appears to reduce brain damage, eliminate brain hemorrhaging and improve motor skills in older stroke-afflicted mice and stroke-afflicted rats with comorbid conditions such as hypertension, according to a new study from Keck Medicine of USC.

The study, which appears online in the journal Stroke, provides additional evidence that 3K3A-APC may be used as a therapy for stroke in humans, either alone or in combination with the FDA-approved clot-busting drug therapy tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy in people experiencing acute ischemic stroke are expected to begin recruiting patients in the United States in 2014. … Read More »

November 11th, 2013|Announcements|

Open enrollment an opportunity to choose Keck Medicine physicians

Open enrollment for benefits-eligible faculty and staff of the University has begun, and personnel are encouraged to choose Keck Medicine of USC providers by signing up for the USC Network Medical Plan.  … Read More »

November 8th, 2013|Announcements|

Researchers at USC uncover new possibilities for sweat gland stem cells

By Marie Rippen

Sweat is important — without it, we would overheat and die. In a recent paper in the journal Public Library of Science One (PLOS ONE), USC faculty member Krzysztof Kobielak, MD, PhD, and a team of researchers explored the ultimate origin of this sticky, stinky but vital substance — sweat gland stem cells. … Read More »

November 8th, 2013|Announcements|

Keck students, benefactors celebrate success at Scholarship Luncheon

By Ryan Ball

Donor Norene Zapanta with Maria Sandoval, recipient of the scholarship named for Zapanta’s late husband, Edward Zapanta, a USC neurosurgeon and the first Hispanic member of the USC Board of Trustees. (Photo/Steve Cohn) Donor Norene Zapanta with Maria Sandoval, recipient of the scholarship named for Zapanta’s late husband, Edward Zapanta, a USC neurosurgeon and the first Hispanic member of the USC Board of Trustees.
(Photo/Steve Cohn)

The daughter of undocumented immigrants, Maria Sandoval credits excellent mentoring for helping her become the first member of her family to graduate high school and college. Now in her third year at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, she’s getting another boost in her quest to become a primary care physician and practice in her underserved community in the San Fernando Valley.

Sandoval is the recipient of this year’s scholarship named for Edward Zapanta, MD, the late USC neurosurgeon and first Hispanic member of the USC board of trustees. She recently had to the opportunity to thank Norene Zapanta for continuing her husband’s support of Hispanic medical students. The two shared a meal at the Keck School’s annual Scholarship Luncheon, held on Oct. 2 on the Harry and Celesta Pappas Quad. … Read More »

November 8th, 2013|Announcements|

Researchers identify gene variant that raises risk for colorectal cancer from eating processed/red meat

By Suzanne Wu

A common genetic variant that affects one in every three people significantly increases the risk of colorectal cancer from consuming red meat and processed meat, according to a study presented at the annual American Society of Human Genetics 2013 meeting, the largest gathering of human geneticists in the world.

In addition, the study — the first to identify the interactions of genes and diet on a genome-wide scale — also reveals another specific genetic variation that appears to modify whether eating more vegetables, fruits and fiber actually lowers your colorectal cancer risk. … Read More »

November 5th, 2013|Announcements|