CTS225: Stem Cells in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine

Spring Quarter

Class Meeting Time

Tuesdays & Thursdays
1 hour

Prerequisites

Graduate or medical student standing or Instructor approval

Instructor

Ngan Huang, PhD

Learning Goals

This is a cardiovascular course that meets for 1 hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This course will consist of didactic lectures and journal club presentations on the basic principles and translational applications of stem cells for treatment of cardiovascular diseases. These lectures will be given by the course instructors or invited speakers. Another component of the course is peer-to-peer teaching by students-led journal club presentations. To synthesize knowledge gained from the course, the students will prepare a final report in the form of a research proposal.

After completion of this course, the students should expect to:

1) Get broad exposure to basic and translational applications of stem cell research to cardiovascular medicine

2) Read, interpret, and orally present scientific literature

Readings

Readings are articles from primary research or review papers and will be available on Canvas. Students are expected to do the required readings ahead of class.

Class Organization

Classes will consist of didactic lectures or journal club presentation. Students are expected to engage with the speakers by asking at least one question per class.

Grades

Grades will be calculated using the following criterion:

50% - Attendance & Class Preparation

25% - Journal Club Presentation

25% - Final Report

Attendance and Class Engagement

Attendance at all class sessions is expected and mandatory. You will receive a participation grade based both on attendance as well as engagement in class discussions. If a student misses a class, they must let the instructors know so that an alternative arrangement will be made to make up for the missed class.

Course Content

Week 1: Introduction to Cardiovascular Anatomy and Basic Biology

Week 2: Introduction to Stem Cells

Week 3: Introduction to Pluripotent Stem Cells

Week 4: Introduction to Adult Stem Cells

Week 5: Potential of Gene Editing for Stem Cell Therapeutics

Week 6: Taking Stem Cell Therapeutics to the Clinics

Week 7: Preclinical Models of Stem Cell Therapeutics

Week 8: Modeling Cardiovascular disease with iPSCs

Week 9: Engineered Cardiovascular Tissues for Regenerative Medicine

Week 10: Bioethicist or TED talks

Additional Information