USC Receives Two New Faculty Awards to Fund Next Generation of Stem Cell Scientists

December 14, 2007

CIRM Awards USC Nearly $6.3 million over five years


LOS ANGELES, December 14, 2007 - The University of Southern California (USC) will receive approximately $6.3 million over five years from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s (CIRM) New Faculty Awards. The awards will fund salary and research support for new researchers to build innovative and robust stem cell research programs in the state of California.

"We are very pleased that our faculty at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC School of Dentistry were recognized by CIRM for their potential significant contributions to the stem cell field,” says Martin Pera, Ph.D., director of USC’s Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine.  "The funding will enable new researchers to undertake pilot projects and generate preliminary data."

Mohammad Pashmforoush, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and Songtao Shi, D.D.S., Ph.D., assistant professor of the USC School of Dentistry received the awards.

"Songtao Shi is an enormous talent, and his pioneering studies with mesenchymal stem cells will soon become new therapeutic approaches for health care," says Harold Slavkin, D.D.S, dean of the USC School of Dentistry.

“Mohammad Pashmforoush’s research in cardiac progenitor cells will have important implications in the future as key regulatory pathways in the heart are understood,” says Pera. “Discoveries about the formation and maturation of these cells will eventually lead to vital therapies and improved care for heart failure patients.”

The New Faculty Awards fund M.D. and Ph.D. scientists who have completed their residency and/or post-doctoral training and are in the critical early stages of their careers as independent investigators and faculty members.  The awards were reviewed by the Scientific and Medical Research Funding Working Group, a panel of scientific experts with diverse areas of expertise who are affiliated with institutions outside the state of California and patient advocates.

CIRM was established when voters passed Proposition 71 in 2004 to borrow and spend $3 billion over 10 years to support stem cell research. Including these two awards, USC and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles have received more than $23.6 million in stem cell grants from CIRM.