USC PhD student Shuwan Liu (right) with ASBMR President Jennifer Westendorf (Image by Fangzhou Bian)Which signals drive cells to heal large-scale bone injuries? For her research into this question, USC Stem Cell PhD student Shuwan Liu has won a 2025 Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), a professional organization that brings together both clinical and experimental scientists. The Mariani Lab has a longstanding interest in how the body heals large-scale bone injuries. “We tackle large-scale bone regeneration problems,” said Liu. “I met a woman who graduated from USC with her PhD, and who also studied bone during her PhD work.