Course Catalogue

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The course will inform students about the latest developments in tissue engineering and the under-pinning science and technology. The student will be introduced to biomaterials, fabrication of scaffolds, the use of stem cells and exemplars of tissue engineering in the context of biology and regenerative medicine. 

There are normally 3 hours of contact on Fridays, as arranged. 

Normally, only available to final-year students in a Life Sciences programme or fourth-year students studying Biomedical Engineering. Visiting students may be allowed to enrol, at the discretion of the Life Sciences Chief Adviser and the Course Coordinator.

None

The course will be assessed by a 2-hour examination (75%) and in-course assessment consisting of a portfolio of summary appraisals of the primary literature accessed throughout the course (25%). 

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The aim of the option is to introduce the student to tissue and cell engineering, to make the student aware of the practical devices and outcomes that can be achieved, including exposure to the conduct of experimentation, data gathering and analysis.

By the end of this course, students will be able to: 

■ Discuss current approaches and methodologies used by researchers in tissue and cell engineering;

■ Apply the core principles of tissue and cell engineering to key questions in the field;

■ Analyse the advantages and limitations of commonly used materials, technologies and techniques in tissue and cell engineering; 

■ Evaluate the relative merits of using different experimental systems to address key questions in the field;

■ Discuss the tissue type specific differences in approaches taken to the creation and analysis of tissue engineered constructs and devices.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.