About the Institute for Genetic Medicine

Dedicated interdisciplinary science, research and training.

IGM researchers have been drawn together from multiple academic units across USC. The department comprises 20 full-time faculty members and one part-time faculty member, working within 13 research groups. Each group includes staff scientists and technical staff, as well as postdoctoral and doctoral students. In addition, the groups train a large number of part-time researchers, including clinical fellows and residents, master’s students, undergraduate students, high school students, and visiting fellows. The number is typically about 50 trainees. A team of full-time administrative staff members supports the IGM research effort. The total complement of people hovers around 110 faculty, staff, and trainees.

IGM research is funded by federal, state, foundation and industry-sponsored grants, as well as gifts from donors and benefactors. The major sponsor is the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Center for Applied Molecular Medicine (CAMM) within the IGM holds a large Physical Sciences in Oncology Center (PS-OC) grant from the NIH’s National Cancer Institute. The IGM provides laboratory space for the Clinical Trials Unit of the NIH-funded Southern California Clinical & Translational Science Institute (SC-CTSI), and also supports office space and conference facilities used by the SC-CTSI.

The IGM’s laboratory facilities are as innovative as the IGM’s research. Instead of small, narrowly focused laboratories, the department’s multiple, open-space “collaboratories” allow individual projects to blossom in an atmosphere that engenders interdisciplinary collaboration and enhances the creative process. Realizing that scientists often spend an unusual amount of time away from home, IGM emphasizes a “home-like” environment with comfortable conversation areas, kitchens and reading areas.

Conference facilities, including the Miner Y. and Sara V. Harkness Auditorium and the surrounding IGM Art Gallery, are managed by the IGM and serve as a resource for the entire USC Health Sciences Campus.

The IGM is breaking new ground in the following areas:

• Aging – elucidating the biochemical mechanisms underlying the development of accelerated aging syndromes to unravel the molecular basis of human aging.
• Cancer – searching for genes that influence risk of malignancies like melanoma and prostate cancer, and developing and testing new therapeutics.
• Embryological Development – detailing the precise steps and control mechanisms by which genes orchestrate embryological development into a newborn child.
• Gene Therapy – creating novel approaches for gene therapy to reverse blindness.
• Genetic Variation – determining causes for genetic variation in populations.
• Repair and Regeneration – identifying factors that determine the regenerative quality of repair and solve the problems of chronic would healing.

IGM scientists are making key contributions to biology and diseases of the following organ systems:

• Bone – studying gene expression in bone cells in order to find ways to prevent osteoporosis or grow new bone in the laboratory.
• Eye – using genetic variability in the response to stress hormones to uncover new mechanisms and pharmaceutical targets for ocular hypertension and glaucoma.
• Heart – pinpointing genes involved in the development of the heart and their roles in heart diseases and hypertension.
• Muscle – studying the mechanistic basis of myotonic dystrophy and developing experimental paradigms to examine muscle, heart and behavioral pathology specific to muscular dystrophy in mouse models.
• Nervous System – discovering genes responsible for the control of the normal development of intelligence and neuromuscular control.
• Teeth – identifying genes underlying various dental defects such as hypodontia, congenitally missing teeth, or mal-positioned teeth.