Stem Cell Engineering Training Program

描述（由申请人提供）：人类诱导多能干细胞（hipsc）和成体干细胞越来越多地被研究用于治疗许多疾病、组织工程、再生医学，以及用于基因组分析和体外药物筛选的疾病特异性组织模型的开发。然而，由于自我更新和分化的环境条件尚不清楚，通常很难精确控制干细胞的行为，但精确控制对于实现所有这些下游利益至关重要。传统上，研究生教育在培养工程学或生物学的学生方面是成功的，但推动这一领域向前发展所必需的科学和工程学背景的不同性质要求新的教育方法是成功的必要条件。加州大学伯克利分校提出了干细胞工程的跨学科培训计划，其在疾病治疗中的应用，以及围绕干细胞研究和使用的法律和伦理问题。在伯克利干细胞中心、生物工程系和分子与细胞生物系的全面参与和支持下，我们设计了一个项目来教育和培训与干细胞工程有关的博士前研究员。这门新创建的学科代表了生物和物理科学、工程学、伦理学和法学的融合。该计划的主要目标将是正式组织这一新兴和迅速发展的学科的新培训机会的结构和范围，消除跨学科研究生科学教育的传统学术障碍，并在学术界和工业界提供强有力的研究培训。作为这些努力的一部分，我们开发了一个新的干细胞工程课程，一个系列研讨会，一个年度静修，跨学科研究，和一个工业实习经验。其结果将是培养出训练有素的高效青年科学家，他们将在生物学和工程学的交汇处工作，并在一个非常及时的生物医学研究领域工作。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and adult stem cells are increasingly being investigated for treating many diseases, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and the development of disease specific tissue models for genomic analysis and in vitro drug screening. However, it is difficult to precisely control the behavior of stem cells in general, since environmental conditions for self-renewal and differentiation are not well understood, yet precise control is critical to realizing all of these downstream benefits. Graduate education has traditionally been successful in educating students in either engineering or biology, but the disparate nature of the scientific and engineering backgrounds necessary to move this field forward requires novel methodology in education is necessary for success. The University of California at Berkeley proposes an interdisciplinary training program in Stem Cell Engineering, its application to the treatment of disease, and the legal and ethical issues surrounding the study and use of stem cells. With the integral involvement and support of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center, Bioengineering Department, and Molecular and Cell Biology Department, we have designed a program to educate and train predoctoral fellows in issues relating to stem cell engineering. This newly created discipline represents the convergence of the biological and physical sciences, engineering, and ethics and law. The primary objectives of this program will be to formally organize the structure and scope of new training opportunities in this emerging and rapidly expanding discipline, to dissolve traditional academic barriers to interdisciplinary graduate science education, and to provide strong research training in academia and industry. As part of these efforts, we have developed a new Stem Cell Engineering curriculum, a seminar series, an annual retreat, interdisciplinary research, and an industrial internship experience. The result will be highly effective young scientists trained to work at the interface of biology and engineering and within a very timely area of biomedical research.