Master's degree in Stem Cell Medicine Course Topics

Course Specific Training ~ 60 hours:

THEME 1: Stem Cell States

Introduction to Key Concepts of Stem Cell Biology

  • Stem cell potency and fate

  • Stem cell assays and purification, lessons from blood

  • Stem cell niches
  • Mapping human cell states in health and disease

From Pluripotency to Gastrulation

  • Insights from non-human primate studies

  • Self-organization and stem cell derived embryo models

THEME 2: Stem Cells in Disease

Stem Cells and Cancer

  • When maintenance of the Oesophagus Epithelium goes awry

  • Molecular alterations in Leukaemia

Stem Cells and Ageing

  • Competition of stem cell clones as a prelude to cancer

  • Experimental models to study ageing processes

Normal and Malignant Blood Stem Cells

  • Epigenomic approaches towards leukaemia stem cell eradication

  • How to discover new drugs targeting normal/malignant stem cells

Intestinal stem cell biology in health, infection and inflammatory diseases

  • How a biobank of patient derived organoids can help treating inflammatory bowel disease

  • How parasitic worms reset intestinal stem cell function

THEME 3: Stem Cells and Therapeutics

The Biology of Regeneration

  • From model organisms to human digit regeneration

  • Progress and challenges for heart regeneration

Translation of Stem Cell Therapies to the Brain

  • Cell Therapy for Parkinson Disease

  • Mapping and modulating the cellular environment of the brain

Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy

  • Cell therapy for heart failure – lessons learned and the road ahead

  • From lab produced blood cells to clinical application
  • Cell therapy for liver disease

Neural Stem Cells

  • Tackling Multiple Sclerosis by stimulating endogenous repair

Plus attendance at regular internal and International seminars, hosted by the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.

Transferable Skills Training ~30 hours:

THEME 4:

Biostatistics Course

  • Matt Castle to deliver computational course (expected 2 days of training)

  • Additional BioInformatics discussions with our DRP Computational Scientists (Melania, Andrian and Nadav) with expertise in single cell genomics (Andrian), spatial biology (Nadav), and dynamic systems scale modelling (Melania). 

Big Techniques

  • Imaging

  • Flow Cytometry, basics of immunostaining
  • Single cell sequencing

Data Management

  • Facilitated by central ‘Research Data Management’ team

Working with primary human samples

  • general overview of HTA principles, respect for donations, regulation, human embryonic research

Routes to Commercialisation

Animal Research

Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement

Scientific Writing