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Zebrafish make waves in our understanding of a common craniofacial birth defect

Children are not as hard-headed as adults—in a very literal sense. Babies are born with soft spots and flexible joints called sutures at the junctions where various sections of their skull bones meet. If these sutures fuse prematurely, the skull cannot expand to accommodate the child’s growing brain—a serious birth defect called craniosynostosis that can…Continue Reading Zebrafish make waves in our understanding of a common craniofacial birth defect

D’Juan Famer named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna H. Gray Fellow

A little over a year after arriving at USC, D’Juan Farmer has been awarded one of the most prestigious fellowships available to postdoctoral fellows. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program supports early-career life scientists from groups underrepresented in the life sciences. The fellows receive up to $1.4 million in funding…Continue Reading D’Juan Famer named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna H. Gray Fellow

A Fox code for the face

In the developing face, how do stem cells know whether to become cartilage, bones or teeth? To begin to answer this question, scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Gage Crump tested the role of a key family of genes, called “Forkhead-domain transcription factors,” or Fox. Their findings appear in the journal Development. To read more, visit stemcell.keck.usc.edu/a-fox-code-for-the-face….Continue Reading A Fox code for the face

Growing hope: New organs? Not yet, but stem cell research is getting closer

If you lose a limb, it’s lost for life. If you damage a kidney, you won’t grow a new one. And if you have a heart attack, the scars are there to stay. But regenerative medicine is poised to change all of this. Building new tissue is within sight, and USC scientists are among the…Continue Reading Growing hope: New organs? Not yet, but stem cell research is getting closer

Crump Lab chews on the mysteries of jaw development

Scientists in the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Gage Crump have revealed how key genes guide the development of the jaw in zebrafish. These findings may offer clues for understanding craniofacial anomalies in human patients, who sometimes carry a mutation in equivalent genes. In the study published in Developmental Cell, first author Lindsey Barske and…Continue Reading Crump Lab chews on the mysteries of jaw development