“Neither stigma nor social support — but rather age, economic status, number of children, and religiosity — are the key predictors of LGB parents’ desire to expand their families.” A new study led by Dr. Geva Shenkman-Lachberg of the Dina Recanati School of Medicine at Reichman University, in collaboration with Yuval Shaia of Reichman University and Dr. Kfir Ifrah of Ruppin Academic Center, found that only sociodemographic factors — including the parent’s age, number of current children, economic status, and level of religiosity — predict the desire and intention to have more children among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) parents. In contrast to the findings of previous studies, experiences of discrimination, stigma, and social support were not found to have a significant impact on parental aspirations. The researchers now aim to further explore the reasons behind these findings.

Molecular biologist Yali Dou, PhD, holder of the Marion and Harry Keiper Chair in Cancer Research and professor of medicine and cancer biology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is one of seven USC faculty members in the 2025 cohort of new fellows. Dou, the associate director for basic research at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a recognized leader in the study of epigenetics, the mechanisms that enable the singular instructions in DNA to be expressed as myriad cell and tissue types. She has made major contributions to the fundamental understanding of a family of enzymes that plays a vital role in fetal development by altering the coiled chromatin, which packages DNA to fit in the chromosomes of a cell’s nucleus, so that genes are activated. Because mutations of the founding member of this family of enzymes can also spur leukemia, they are known as mixed-lineage leukemia proteins, or MLL. MLL enzymes are among the most frequently mutated genes in cancer.