Dr. Gage Crump is a founding member of the Broad Stem Cell Center at USC and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. His lab studies the development, maintenance, and regeneration of the head skeleton using zebrafish, mouse, and human systems. His lab has established a number of models of human congenital anomalies in zebrafish, including for craniosynostosis, craniofacial dysmorphologies, arthritis, and black bone disease, and they are using these to understand the developmental bases of craniofacial disease.
His group was also the first to demonstrate regeneration of jawbone, joints, and ligaments in adult fish, with lessons learned from this highly regenerative vertebrate being used to devise new treatments for bone loss and arthritis in patients. In 2013, he established a new PhD program in Development, Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine (DSR), one of the first and largest of its kind in the US, and in 2022 established an undergraduate Minor program in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He has mentored 20 PhD students and 16 postdoctoral fellows, who have collectively obtained 14 NIH fellowships, as well as prestigious HHMI Hannah Gray, Burroughs Wellcome, Helen Hay Whitney, and Giannini postdoctoral fellowships.
Five of his former postdocs and two former PhD students are now tenure-track assistant professors at Columbia University, UCLA, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and Baylor College of Medicine among others. His excellence in mentoring has been recognized by awards from the Dean of the School of Medicine (2024) and the Provost (2017, 2025).
On his 2025 Provost Mentoring Award
“Gage exemplifies the qualities of an outstanding mentor at all levels of academic development, from undergraduate students to early-career faculty.”
–Francesca Mariani,Associate Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
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