E-Mail IMAGE: USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut, Ph.D., received a $2.56 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to design artificial... view more Credit: Chris Shinn Whether in an earthworm or a human being, developmental processes are driven by complex networks of genetically-encoded signals that enable cells to take cues from each other and their environment. To begin unraveling this complexity, USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut, PhD, is designing artificial genetic programs to perturb natural signaling networks and study how this inflects embryonic development, with support from a $2.56 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).