Course Description
An overview of stem cell therapy and strategies to enhance therapeutic applications of cells in human disease. The course will emphasize the basic biology of stem cells, methods for “engineering” cell behavior, animal models of disease, and methods of analysis.
Athena Title
Engineering Stem Cell Therapeu
Prerequisite
BCMB 3100 or BCMB 3100E or BCMB 3100H or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The objective of this course is to introduce the field of cell therapy to graduate students who are pursuing degrees in the life sciences, biomedical sciences, or engineering. The course will primarily highlight engineering strategies to enhance stem cell behavior and analysis strategies to evaluate cell survival and therapy and discuss challenges and potential of translation to the clinic. Course material will be derived from primary peer-reviewed journal articles.
Topical Outline
1. What is a stem cell? 2. Case studies on promising therapeutic trials 3. Basic stem cell biology a. Embryonic stem cells, neural progenitor cells, MSCs, iPS 4. Cell engineering approaches a. Transduction/transfection strategies i. Temporary vs. permanent modification b. Transduction/transfection applications i. Differentiation control ii. Therapeutic enhancement c. Other modes of genetic modification i. TALENS, CRISPR/cas9 d. Cell “licensing” e. 3D culture strategies f. Biomaterial control 5. Animal models of disease a. Disease categories b. Small animal models c. Large animal models d. Translational potential 6. Analytic approaches a. Optical imaging, CT, MRI, functional assays 7. The Business of cell therapy a. Clinical trial reviews b. Business opportunities and case studies
Syllabus
Public CV