USC postdoctoral researcher Xi Chen knows that you have to break a few eggs in order to grow chicken stem cells. His work on maintaining embryonic stem cells (ESC) from chicken eggs provides insight into stem cell pluripotency and evolutionary developmental biology. “The choice of beginning with fertilized chicken eggs was critical to the success Read More…

Shanghai Cell Therapy Group (SHCell) recently entered into a six-year research collaborative project with Professor Qi-Long Ying from the University of Southern California (USC). Through the project, sponsored by $3.6 million from the Baize Plan Fund, the Ying laboratory aims to develop conditions for the long-term ex vivo expansion of mouse and human hematopoietic stem Read More…

For the first time ever, the City of Los Angeles hosted the world’s largest stem cell conference. By choosing Los Angeles as the host city for this major annual meeting, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) acknowledged the city’s growing importance as a hub for the biosciences, as well as the world-class research Read More…

USC Stem Cell scientist Qi-Long Ying explains how rats can improve human health. https://link.medium.com/OVv7Mpy34U

Qi-Long Ying has received a new research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Qi-Long Ying has received $1.32 million to investigate how two proteins, called GSK3 and ERK, influence whether stem cells self-renew to produce more stem cells, or differentiate into more specialized cell types. When the levels of either of these two Read More…

Imagine an ever-renewing source of immune cells that can be engineered to attack cancer and infections. The winners of this year’s Eli and Edythe Broad Innovation Award at USC are already striving to turn this exciting concept into a reality. The collaborative research project brings together Qi-Long Ying and Rong Lu, two faculty members in Read More…

If you’ve seen one GSK3 molecule, do not assume that you have seen them all. A new study in Developmental Cell reveals important differences in two similar forms of GSK3, which, in excess, is implicated in diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and ALS. In the study, first author Xi Chen—a PhD student in the USC Stem Read More…

Just as beauty exists in the eye of the beholder, a signal depends upon the interpretation of the receiver. According to new USC research published in Stem Cell Reports, a protein called TAZ can convey very different signals—depending upon not only which variety of stem cell, but also which part of the stem cell receives Read More…

“The most important discoveries that I’ve made have all come from nowhere,” said Qi-Long Ying, associate professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at USC. “They could not be planned.” To foster this spirit of unexpected discovery, Chinese biotechnology entrepreneur Min Zhou has given an unrestricted gift of $500,000 to Ying’s lab, which studies Read More…

Qi-Long Ying and Rong Lu have received an award from L.K. Whittier Foundation for research on the expansion and characterization of human granulocyte-macrophage progenitors. To read more, visit stemcell.usc.edu/2017/07/07/whittier-foundation-backs-new-group-of-research-projects.