Instructor: Jian Wu, Transplant Research Program, School of Medicine
Description: This is a course for undergraduate students to have an exposure to biomedical science in the discipline of tissue engineering. The goal of the course is to introduce the basic knowledge of tissue repair and stem cell biology, as well as their common biomedical applications. Participating students are expected to develop interests in life science for biomedical research.
Prerequisite: High school biology, chemistry and physics.
Format: The course will include both dialectic lectures and laboratory visit. There will be four weekly lectures, and each lecture will last 100 min with 10 min break. A question and answer opportunity will be reserved at the last 10 minutes of each session. The last session will be a lab visit. Students will be arranged to see the liver growth in partially hepatectomized mice, clones of human embryonic stem cells and immortalized human fetal hepatocytes. One week after the completion of the course, students are required to complete a short report (one to two pages) to answer two questions: 1. What was the most impressive to you in liver regeneration and stem cell biology? and 2. What are the potential biomedical applications of liver regeneration or stem cells? Grading: The course grade will be based on the quality of their short report (2/3), and on attendance of all sessions, as well as the frequency and quality of their participation in class discussion (1/3) at the end of each session.
About the Instructor: The instructor is an Associate Adjunct Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Transplant Research Program, UC Davis Medical Center, and has engaged in the research of liver diseases for more than 20 years. His major research focuses include acute and chronic liver injury, liver cirrhosis, cancer and transplantation. He has research expertise in gene or molecular therapy and cell-based therapy for liver diseases.