For the last 20 years stem cells research has been one of the leading topics in biomedical sciences. This interest has been related with their potential use for regenerative medicine purposes in the biomedical field, their potential as a tool to study developmental phenomena (e.g. cell differentiation) and as an in vitro model to study toxicity or disease development.
In this “hands on” course, the main topics to be covered will be:
1. basics on stem cells from different sources: endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm;
2. isolation and characterization of adult stem cells;
3. maintenance of embryonic/induced pluripotent stem cells;
4. in vivo models of stem cell transplantation;
5. stem cells and biotechnology;
6. techniques to study stem cells in health and disease (animal models, optogenetics, epigenetics; microfluidics).
This course does not provide credentials for the exercise of medicine for those without appropriate training, recognition and registered at the "Ordem dos Médicos".
