
USC Launches New Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The University of Southern California has officially launched innovation.usc.edu, a new website dedicated to elevating innovation, entrepreneurship, and startup activity across the university. Developed by the Office of Research and Innovation, the platform serves as a central gateway for the entire Trojan community to explore the people, programs, and opportunities driving innovation at USC.
Office of Research and Innovation (OORI) at USC
The mission of the Office of Research and Innovation at the University of Southern California is to nurture and promote ethical and rigorous research, scholarship, creativity, and innovation to benefit society.

Alfred E. Mann Institute
USC AMI bridges the gap between biomedical innovation and the creation of commercially successful medical products to improve and save lives.

Department of Animal Resources
DAR provides animal procurement, daily animal care, animal health care, and scientific support for USC programs using animals in research and teaching.

Department of Contracts and Grants
DCG supports the research administration process, ensuring it’s consistent with university standards for academic freedom, research ethics, and fiscal responsibility.

Human Research Protection Program
HRPP develops program-wide policies for the conduct and review of human subjects research at USC, provides education and training, and oversees the Institutional Review Boards (IRB).

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
IACUC oversees USC’s animal programs, animal facilities, and policies ensuring appropriate care, ethical use and humane treatment of animals.

Research Initiatives and Infrastructure
RII supports investigators through internal funding programs, limited submissions, shared resources, as well as faculty training via the Center for Excellence in Research.

Research Integrity
ORI fosters a culture of integrity within the entire USC research community by educating investigators about responsible conduct in research and laboratory practices.

Research Strategy and Development
RSD works with faculty and teams on developing large-scale and interdisciplinary research proposals and informing researchers about federally-funded research programs.

Research Technology Services
RTS maintains and supports diSClose (for managing conflicts of interest) and iStar (for research with human subjects, animals, and biohazardous and radioactive substances).

Stevens Center for Innovation
USC Stevens is USC’s technology transfer office and also licenses discoveries, promotes entrepreneurship, stimulates innovation and leads corporate research collaborations.
Research and Scholarship
Find resources for managing scholarly inquiry, including guidelines and policies, a list of centers and institutes, available shared resources, funding opportunities, research training, and COVID-19 research continuity resources.
Research Happening Across USC
- A USC study finds that large language models, such as ChatGPT, fall short of humans in building therapeutic rapport — a critical factor in mental health care.
- A genetically engineered herpes simplex virus, when combined with immunotherapy, reduces or eliminates tumors in one-third of clinical trial patients.
- In a USC study, 30 days of app-guided meditation were linked to improvements in how quickly and accurately participants directed their focus.
- High doses of corticosteroids, prescribed to manage cancer-related symptoms or treatment side effects, are the most significant factor in why some immunotherapies don’t work.
Research Administration
Find resources for research administration, including information on key financial concepts, guides through the proposal and award lifecycle, grants management tools, and how to maintain research compliance.
Featured Events

News
- USC’s Office of Research and Innovation Assist Researchers to Win Five-Year $8 million Superfund Research Program GrantLast month, a team of USC researchers led by Vaia Lida Chatzi, MD, PhD, a Keck School of Medicine Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences, won an $8 million…
- USC Well Represented at UCLA’s LABEST WeekBetween May 19 and May 22, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) hosted its LABEST Week, consisting of a series of events engaging Los Angeles stakeholders ranging from an array…
- Monthly Newsletter – June 2025Dear Colleagues, Since our last update, the President’s FY26 budget request to Congress was released, followed by agency briefings outlining priorities. While these proposals are not yet final and remain…