From restoring sight to reversing brain damage, USC stem cell researchers are making life-changing discoveries

 In the News

From restoring sight to reversing brain damage, USC stem cell researchers are making life-changing discoveries

Source: USC News

If anyone has a clear vision of the power of stem cell cures, it’s Anna Kuehl. She suffered a retina-wrecking disease that cost her much of her sight before USC physicians surgically implanted stem cells to restore her ability to see.

Today, she can see the letters on computer keys, use her iPhone and read billboards. She can see Catalina Island and ships and lights offshore from her Palos Verdes home in Southern California. Clarity gained has afforded her a brighter future based on stem cell therapies.

“It was like a miracle, the whole experience was so positive,” said Kuehl, 79, a Trojan alumna. “I’m the beneficiary of all the good people who were involved” with the USC Stem Cell initiative, she said.

After more than a decade of intensive research, stem cell solutions are happening, offering hope for millions of people in the form of gene therapies, better drugs and precision medicine. The cures may not be as fast as needed — building the scientific foundation for stem cell therapies takes time — but some research has already moved into human clinical trials.

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