{"id":339,"date":"2015-07-08T09:38:35","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T16:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-postdocs-win-doerr-stem-cell-challenge-grants\/"},"modified":"2023-11-26T08:16:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T16:16:26","slug":"usc-postdocs-win-doerr-stem-cell-challenge-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-postdocs-win-doerr-stem-cell-challenge-grants\/","title":{"rendered":"USC postdocs win Doerr Stem Cell Challenge Grants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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USC postdocs win Doerr Stem Cell Challenge Grants<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n \n July 08, 2015<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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From left, Lindsey Mork, Michaela Patterson, Ang Li and Yuwei Li (Photos by Cristy Lytal)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Just as there are times when two heads are better than one, there are times when two labs are better than one. Thanks to the new Doerr Stem Cell Challenge Grants, teams of postdoctoral researchers from different USC labs have each received up to $10,000 in funding to pursue interdisciplinary one-year projects.
\n\u201cThe goal of the program is to stimulate new interdisciplinary stem cell research projects initiated and proposed by students and postdocs,\u201d said Andy McMahon,PhD, provost professor and the inaugural holder of the W. M. Keck Professorship of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. \u201cThis will enhance their creativity and independence, as well as their ability to compete for future grants supported by agencies such as the NIH.\u201d
\nOne winning team brings together two postdocs that work miles apart. Ang Li studies feather development in Keck School Professor of pathology Cheng-Ming Chuong\u2019s lab on the Health Sciences Campus, and Yuwei Li researches imaging techniques in Scott E. Fraser\u2019s lab on the University Park Campus.
\nTogether, they will use pioneering imaging tools to study cell behavior during feather development. Specifically, they will monitor how cells move and organize in response to bioelectric cues, or the electric currents that occur within all living organisms.
\n\u201cWhen stem cells form an organ, there are two major issues, to differentiate into the right cell types and to be organized spatially,\u201d said Chuong, principal investigator with USC Stem Cell. \u201cThe issue of organization has not been studied as extensively as differentiation. This work, when accomplished, will be a major paper.\u201d<\/p>\n