Stem Cell Engineering Training Program

描述(申请人提供)：人类诱导多能干细胞(HiPSCs)和成体干细胞越来越多地被用于治疗多种疾病、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，通常很难精确控制干细胞的行为，因为自我更新和分化的环境条件还没有被很好地了解，但精确的控制是实现所有这些下游好处的关键。研究生教育在传统上成功地培养了工程学或生物学的学生，但推动该领域向前发展所需的科学和工程背景的不同性质要求教育中的新方法是成功所必需的。加州大学伯克利分校提出了一项跨学科培训计划，内容包括干细胞工程及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、生物工程系和分子和细胞生物学系的全面参与和支持下，我们设计了一个项目，在与干细胞工程相关的问题上教育和培训博士前研究员。这一新创建的学科代表着生物科学和物理科学、工程学以及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快速发展的学科中新的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，我们开发了一门新的干细胞工程课程，一系列研讨会，年度务虚会，跨学科研究和工业实习经验。其结果将是高效率的年轻科学家接受培训，在生物学和工程学的交界处工作，并在非常及时的生物医学研究领域内工作。

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.