CIRM awards $2.5 million to USC researcher
The grant announced March 16 is the latest award made to faculty building USC’s new stem cell research program. Crooks’ study, titled “Regulated Expansion of Lympho-hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells from Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESC),” was highly recommended by CIRM for funding.
“The clinical potential of human embryonic stem cells for transplantation will be realized only when we can develop methods to control how mature cells are produced far more effectively than is currently the case,” said Crooks, who is also a research scientist at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. “As a pediatric bone marrow transplant physician, I am keenly aware of the profound clinical problems that my patients face. Matched stem cells from healthy donors are often not available and the immune system recovers poorly after transplantation.”
According to Martin Pera, director of USC’s Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (CSCRM), USC stem cell scientists and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles faculty, who hold USC appointments, work closely with each other and in collaboration with Caltech to advance stem cell research. “As part of a unique tri-institutional program, we currently collaborate on a CIRM training program for new stem cell researchers. Additionally, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles faculty serve on the Steering Committee of USC’s Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine.” Pera is also a professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine.
News of USC’s sixth CIRM award announced in recent weeks comes as two more stem cell researchers are headed for the USC campus, continuing the university’s aggressive recruitment efforts for the new program.
Krzysztof Kobielak comes from Rockefeller University with a focus on the microenvironment that controls the stem cells of the hair and skin. Gregor Adams, arriving from Harvard University, brings a focus on regulation of stem cells that produce red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Both researchers are expected to arrive at USC later this spring, bringing the tally of recent stem cell recruits to seven.
“With the addition of these two new faculty members, we are continuing the momentum from earlier CIRM grants and recruitment efforts in advancing our stem cell research capabilities,” said Brian Henderson, dean of the Keck School. “We are very pleased with what we have accomplished thus far in growing our program and look forward to future endeavors.”
In February, USC researchers received approximately $3.4 million from CIRM.
The organization funded 72 Scientific Excellence through Exploration and Development (SEED) grants worth a combined $45 million for scientists new to stem cell research.
In the spring of 2006, USC, along with its partner institutions Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and Caltech, received a three-year, $3.16 million stem cell training grant from CIRM to train graduate students as well as post-doctoral and clinical fellows across 27 departments at USC. That three-year grant has established an innovative training program in stem cell biology and ethics that will include mentored laboratory research, an annual retreat and courses jointly administered and co-taught by faculty of the Keck School, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and Caltech.
Meanwhile, planning is under way for the new Broad Institute building on the USC Health Sciences Campus, which will house the stem cell research center.
CIRM is the organization established when California voters passed Proposition 71 in 2004 to borrow and spend $3 billion over 10 years to support stem cell research.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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