When learning to become a great scientist, the most important lesson might be how to collaborate. To encourage this essential skill, for the past decade, USC Stem Cell has awarded one-year challenge grants of up to $15,000 to small teams of PhD students and postdoctoral fellows launching cross-disciplinary research projects that span two or more labs.
During the 2025–2026 academic year, three teams will receive Broad Collaborative Challenge Grants for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows.
One winning project involves trainees from two labs jointly affiliated with the Keck School and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: PhD student Timothy Hunt from Senta Georgia’s lab and postdoctoral fellow Arianna Barbetta from Juliet Emamaullee’s lab. They aim to understand why patients face an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes within 6 months of recovering from infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Because diabetes results from impaired insulin production in the pancreas, the scientists will study the pancreases of rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2. Using spatial proteomics, which is mapping the location of proteins within cells and tissues, they will visualize and identify molecular signatures associated with regeneration, recovery, or dysfunction of the pancreas.
To read more, visit https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/students-and-trainees-win-15000-collaborative-research-grants.