Riddle me this: how do you get stem cells to thrive outside of their natural environment? According to Keyue Shen, if all else fails, you can always trick them—with artificially engineered neighbor cells. Shen, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and Rong Lu, an assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, recently won an NIH R21 Trailblazer Award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). They were selected for their early-stage investigation to expand healthy stem cells ex vivo, or outside of the body.

To read more, visit stemcell.usc.edu/2017/09/07/can-stem-cells-be-tricked.