Keck School of Medicine of USC May 12 2026 A team led by USC Stem Cell scientist Zhongwei Li, PhD, has produced some of the most complex and mature lab-grown kidney models to date. Supported by a three-year grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Li and his colleagues are now mapping the characteristics, structure and function of these mini-kidney structures, known as human synthetic kidney organoids (hSKOs), to show how they can advance research on disease. The