When Rong Lu joined USC as an assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine in 2014, she knew that earning tenure would figuratively require blood, sweat and tears. But after becoming a mother, she ended up literally supplying her children’s cord blood to her lab to study how individual stem cells work together to maintain a healthy blood supply and immune system, and how to improve bone marrow transplantation for patients with cancer and other diseases.

“I sent the cord blood of my children to my lab, and used it for a couple of projects. Because the samples were so fresh, they have been the best so far for studying human blood stem cells,” said Lu, who was recently awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, biomedical engineering, medicine, and gerontology at USC.

Lu approaches her work as a labor of love and doesn’t take for granted the opportunity to pursue her chosen career.

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