Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute – Change perception, change your world | Chen Institute

Caltech researchers have developed a groundbreaking technique to freeze and preserve bird stem cells, offering a potential way to restore endangered species. The method enables scientists to culture, freeze, and later reconstitute avian stem cells—an advance that could one day bring extinct bird populations back to life. The work, led by Caltech postdoctoral scholar Xi […]

A new study from the Shanghai Aging Study, supported by the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, found that the COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated cognitive decline and brain aging in older adults. Researchers followed nearly 4,000 Shanghai residents for over a decade, comparing memory, thinking, and brain scans before and after the city’s 2022 Omicron […]

Caltech researchers have developed a powerful new method for creating embryo-like structures from stem cells that could transform how we study fertility. Using stem cells rather than a traditional fertilized egg, the team has built mouse embryo models called iG4-blastoids that closely mimic natural blastocysts, the stage of development when an embryo implants into the […]

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting over 10 million people worldwide. Some forms of Parkinson’s disease are characterized by an inability of cells to clean up dysfunctional mitochondria, the cells’ “powerhouses,” particularly in neural cells of the brain. Like batteries, the mitochondria provide energy for a cell to function, but also […]

The thyroid, a vital endocrine organ in vertebrates, plays a key role in regulating metabolism and supporting growth. The first gland of both the nervous system and endocrine system to mature during an embryo’s development, it initially evolved more than 500 million years ago out of a “primitive” precursor organ in chordates known as the […]