Senta Georgia reflects on Title IX and becoming the first Black PhD scientist to earn tenure at the Keck School of Medicine of USC

When USC Stem Cell researcher Senta Georgia was granted tenure on March 10, 2023, she became the first Black PhD scientist earn this promotion in the history of the Keck School of Medicine, which was founded in 1885. “There are not that many Black PhD scientists, and so it’s a pipeline problem,” said Georgia, who Read More…

Faculty balance babies with biomedical research

Growing stem cells isn’t just something faculty do in the lab. Senta Georgia is one of eight faculty in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine who recently welcomed new babies into their families—more than half of them within the past year. Here, Dr. Georgia and other faculty parents share their joy and Read More…

A revolution in genetics

A child develops a rare form of diabetes, due to the absence of a single piece of DNA in his genetic code. At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, a dedicated researcher is working to cure this young patient. How? With gene-editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9. Just a few years old, CRISPR-Cas9 technology is transforming how scientists conduct Read More…

USC’s stem cell scientists secure the dollars to fight disease

The price of progress is not only the energy and talent of stem cell scientists, but also the research dollars that support their discoveries. In recent months, faculty members have secured numerous grants to support stem cell-based approaches to study and treat illnesses ranging from osteoarthritis to Alzheimer’s disease to cystic fibrosis. To read more, Read More…

What I’m Reading: Senta Georgia offers top picks

In the human pancreas, groups of so-called “endocrine cells” secrete the hormones insulin and glucagon, which are critical for regulating blood glucose levels; dysregulation of hormone secretion can lead to diabetes. In a recent edition of the journal Diabetes, Klaus Kaestner and colleagues published a study looking at the pattern of active or “expressed” genes Read More…

Senta Georgia wins CIRM Discovery Inception award

Senta Georgia—principal investigator at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and assistant professor of pediatrics, and stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at USC—has a creative idea for helping children with a genetic form of diabetes and malabsorptive diarrhea called enteric anendocrinosis. And through its Discovery Inception program, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has Read More…