{"id":2718,"date":"2019-02-15T14:41:30","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T22:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/stem-cell-scientist-giorgia-quadrato-joins-uscs-brain-trust\/"},"modified":"2023-11-19T12:31:55","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T20:31:55","slug":"stem-cell-scientist-giorgia-quadrato-joins-uscs-brain-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/stem-cell-scientist-giorgia-quadrato-joins-uscs-brain-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Stem cell scientist Giorgia Quadrato joins USC\u2019s brain trust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Stem cell scientist Giorgia Quadrato joins USC\u2019s brain trust<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n Cristy Lytal<\/span>\n \n February 15, 2019<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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Giorgia Quadrato loves a good challenge. That\u2019s why USC\u2019s newest assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine currently spends her time growing 3D networks of human nerve cells, called brain organoids, in the laboratory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think studying the brain is, by definition, probably one of the most challenging fields of study,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so I have been drawn to neurobiology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quadrato\u2019s first love wasn\u2019t science, but Greek philosophy. She grew up in Bari, Italy, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, reading the Greek and Latin classics. At first it seemed that this would be her career path, but she was drawn to the challenge of science. So she moved to Milan, where she earned her bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in biotechnology from the University of Milano-Bicocca.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this dogma that the number of neurons you are born with will be the same throughout your life,\u201d said Quadrato. \u201cAnd then when I just started the university, it was demonstrated that throughout adulthood the human brain generates new neurons from a pool of stem cells. I became passionate about this, because I always liked when, in science, someone tried to break a dogma.\u201d<\/p>\n