In the sixth game of their 2026 football season, the Trojans face West Coast rivals the University of Washington Huskies. On the field, the two universities look forward to fierce competition. Off the field, their researchers have spent years working together on interdisciplinary collaborations, addressing disparities in healthcare, accelerating scientific and medical innovation, and helping transform the world for the better.
"USC and the University of Washington share a commitment to research that improves lives and deepens our understanding of the world," said Ishwar K. Puri, USC's senior vice president of research and innovation. "Trojans and Huskies may be competing on the football field, but … our scholars work together across disciplines to advance discovery and address some of society's most complex challenges."
University of Washington leaders share that commitment to collaboration.
"We are proud to collaborate with USC … to address complex challenges in areas like healthcare, energy, the environment, technology and beyond," said Mari Ostendorf, University of Washington's vice provost for research. "We can be intense rivals on the field and work as teammates just as fiercely to tackle challenges we face together."
Unraveling Alzheimer's disease and dementia
Paul Thompson, professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC associate director of the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, collaborated with Paul Crane of the University of Washington Memory and Brain Wellness Center on the Ultrascale Machine Learning to Empower Discovery in Alzheimer's Disease Biobanks. The project uses advances in deep learning, machine learning and artificial intelligence to tackle critical challenges in Alzheimer's disease research.
Another collaboration, the AHEAD Plasma Extension, or APEX, project, is a four-year, multicenter observational study of blood-based biomarkers, memory and other measures of brain health in older adults.
Co-principal investigator Paul Aisen, USC professor of neurology at Keck School of Medicine and director of the USC Epstein Family Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute, and Michael Rosenbloom of the University of Washington Memory and Brain Wellness Center are tracking how Alzheimer's disease-related blood biomarkers, brain amyloid and cognitive function change over time.
Their team is comparing cognitive, functional and biomarker data among three participant groups and examining how changes vary by race, ethnicity, sex and apolipoprotein E (APOE) status. Aisen also works with University of Washington researchers via the Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium, the Alzheimer's Plasma Extension (APEX) Study and the AHEAD 3-45 Study.
Arthur W. Toga, director of the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute and the institute's Laboratory of NeuroImaging (LONI), collaborated with the University of Washington's National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) to receive neuroimaging Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) based on the Standardized Centralized Alzheimer's and Related Dementias Neuroimaging (SCAN) initiative.
Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) have historically used different methods to collect PET and MRI scans, making it difficult to combine their data. SCAN standardizes that information so it can be shared with researchers in the United States and around the world.
Understanding early influences on health
Health risks can take shape early in life - and researchers from USC and the University of Washington are exploring new ways to address them.
Associate Professor Leah Stein Duker of the USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy is working with Donald L. Chi, professor of oral health sciences and associate dean for research at the University of Washington School of Dentistry, to improve toothbrushing among children with autism.
Launched last year, the study is gathering quantitative and qualitative data to guide the development of a mobile app that helps children build better toothbrushing skills and habits. Stein Duker leads the research related to sensory processing challenges and helps translate data into autism-friendly modifications for the mobile app.
Another collaborative project examines how childhood experiences can affect health decades later.
Stress can accelerate aging, while both HIV and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can further contribute as stressors later in life. In the project, "How Adverse Childhood Experiences affect ageing with HIV," USC Instructional Professor of Gerontology Paul Nash and his team will study the effects of ACEs on stress and inflammation biomarkers in older adults living with HIV. They are also examining the intervening roles of psychological and social factors that influence participants' well-being.
The researchers hope their findings will inform targeted interventions for this population. The University of Washington's Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS) team will provide testing infrastructure and biostatistician support, while sample will be analyzed at the USC-Buck Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging.
New approaches to disease
USC and University of Washington researchers are also working together to improve care for people facing cancer, HIV, post-traumatic stress disorder and other serious health concerns.
As a co-investigator of the project "Care Inequities in Advanced Cancer and Limited-English Proficiency," Linda K. Ko, professor and vice chair of research at the department of family medicine at Keck School of Medicine, provides expertise for assessing community palliative care resources for patients with advanced cancer and limited English proficiency.
Ko also advises the team on community engagement and recruiting community-based organizations; she collaborates with University of Washington colleagues on conference presentations and manuscript preparation.
In April 2024, Professor of Urology Siamak Daneshmand of Keck Medicine of USC and John Gore, an associate professor of urology and surgery and the Jessie H. Bridges Endowed Professor in Prostate Cancer and Urology Research at the University of Washington School of Medicine, began studying the treatment of recurrent NMIBC (Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer). Their research seeks to determine which patients benefit from radical cystectomy (surgery to remove all or part of the urinary bladder) which may fare better than continued bladder-sparing treatment.
Other collaborations are addressing disparities in HIV prevention and care.
Structural and institutional barriers have long limited access to HIV services among vulnerable populations, says Associate Professor Jane Lee of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.
In 2025, Lee helped develop and led a social media campaign for the project "Facilitating Engagement in 'Whole Person Care' for Transgender Latina Women." The campaign sought to reach transgender Latinx women in Washington state and connect them with HIV testing, treatment and prevention services.
Lee worked with Entre Hermanos, a Latino/a LGBTQ+ organization based in Seattle, and Professor E. Roberto Orellana and senior research scientist David Katz of the University of Washington.
The project focused on reducing barriers to HIV services and encouraging greater engagement with care.
Its second year built on that research with a culturally relevant, community-informed social media campaign designed to increase HIV testing and the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, among Latino men who have sex with men.
Professor Lawrence Palinkas of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, partnered with Professor Douglas F. Zatzick of the University of Washington to research interventions targeting post-traumatic stress disorder and co-occurring conditions across U.S. trauma care systems.
Investigating the roots of heart disease
USC's Charles Murry and the University of Washington's David Shechner are studying the molecular processes involved in cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle.
Their project, "Function, composition and mechanism of RNA splicing factories in cardiomyopathy," examines the molecular architecture of a single-locus subnuclear compartment. The researchers want to identify new principles by which new transcripts regulate chromatin organization and reveal new therapeutic targets for heart disease.
Understanding the ever-changing environment
Collaboration between the two universities extends from human health to the health of the planet.
In "Animals as Living Bioreactors: The role of animal gut microbiomes in shaping oceanic carbon cycling and export," researchers are developing biogeochemical models to explore how animal gut microbiomes may influence the movement of carbon through the ocean carbon cycling.
The term biogeochemical refers to the cycle of chemical elements and compounds through living and nonliving matter. Principal Investigator Naomi Levine of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and her collaborators from the University of Washington hope the study will provide new insight into the impact of animals on particle flux in the ocean.
