Novel treatments for human diseases involve the use of human gene or stem cell therapy. This course will discuss the basics of human stem cells and gene therapy and the status of the current FDA-approved stem cell and gene therapy trials for severe combined immunodeficiency, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, cancer, macular dystrophy, diabetes, and spinal cord injury.
TOPICS
Human stem cells
Characteristics of human stem cells
Controversial issues over the derivation of human stem cells
Results from FDA-approved human stem cell trials
Human gene therapy
Approaches for human gene therapy
Results from FDA-approved human gene therapy trials
INSTRUCTOR(S) Eric Wong is the John W. Hancock Professor of Animal Science in the School of Animal Sciences at Virginia Tech, where, for 31 years, he has taught numerous courses in molecular biology, and in agricultural and human biotechnology.
