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 »
By Leslie Ridgeway
Jason Chen and Diana Zhou, both seniors at Diamond Bar High School, part of the Summer High School Advanced Research Program, work on a device they designed and built to measure reaction time. They envision using a form of the device in a future medical technology designed to warn surgeons of potential errors during procedures.
(Photo/Jon Nalick)
While many high school students were spending their summer working at coffee shops and restaurants or on their tans, a group of more than 20 students from private and public high schools throughout the Los Angeles area dug in to intensive science projects as part of a new program based at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
The Summer High School Advanced Research Program (SHSARP) gave students eight weeks of hands-on experience in several labs, including ophthalmology, cell and neurobiology and preventive medicine at the Keck School, and at the USC School of Pharmacy, USC School of Dentistry, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. … Read More »
By Cristy Lytal
Three newly assembled research teams within USC Stem Cell, the regenerative medicine initiative at USC, will take steps that could lead to future stem-cell based therapies for certain forms of deafness, bone defects and pediatric leukemia.
The teams are the winners of USC’s Regenerative Medicine Initiative (RMI), a University-wide program kick-started by $1.2 million in funding from the office of Carmen A. Puliafito, MD, MBA, dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Each RMI Award provides up to $200,000 per year for two years to multi-investigator research collaborations that harness the full potential of USC-affiliated faculty members. … Read More »
At the April 22 event honoring Mark Humayun are, from left: Viterbi School Dean Yannis C. Yortsos, USC Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Elizabeth Garrett, Humayun and Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito. Photo/Steve Cohn
University officials recently honored Mark Humayun, a professor with joint appointments at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, for his groundbreaking work in a retinal prosthesis that was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Joining the April 22 celebration for Humayun were Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, Viterbi School Dean Yannis C. Yortsos and USC Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Elizabeth Garrett.
Humayun, the Cornelius J. Pings Chair in Biomedical Sciences and professor of ophthalmology, biomedical engineering, cell and neurobiology, was the principal member of a team that developed the Argus II—an implant that can restore sight to some people blinded by retinitis pigmentosa.
Puliafito called Humayun’s 25-year effort “audacious” and said few thought such a device would be possible. … Read More »
Arthur Toga
By Suzanne Wu
USC is about to get even brainier. Already a leading center for research on the neurological basis of emotion, the university announced today a major cluster hire of an institute with 110 faculty, researchers and multidisciplinary staff in the field of brain mapping and neuroimaging—the critical work that allows us to actually see the physical structure and circuitry that generates our mind, behavior and consciousness.Headlining the move are Arthur W. Toga, professor of neurology and co-director of the Division of Brain Mapping in the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, and Paul Thompson, professor of neurology and psychiatry at UCLA. Toga is director of the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI), which will come to USC in the fall, bringing with it a full faculty contingent and international research collaborations.
“USC prides itself on recruiting transformative faculty who excel in their own fields of interest and whose affinity for collaboration helps erase the boundaries between disciplines,” said USC President C. L. Max Nikias. “This cluster hire will help us move one step closer to understanding the structure and function of the human brain. Professors Toga and Thompson—and their talented team—will enhance the quality of this research at USC and improve the lives of people around the world.”