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Unit of study_

BMET9971: Tissue Engineering

With the severe worldwide shortage of donor organs and the ubiquitous problem of donor organ rejection, there is a strong need for developing technologies for engineering replacement organs and other body parts. Recent developments in engineering and the life sciences have begun to make this possible, and as a consequence, the very new and multidisciplinary field of tissue engineering has been making dramatic progress in the last few years. This unit will provide an introduction to the principles of tissue engineering, as well as an up to date overview of recent progress and future outlook in the field of tissue engineering. This unit assumes prior knowledge of cell biology and chemistry and builds on that foundation to elaborate on the important aspects of tissue engineering. The objectives are: To gain a basic understanding of the major areas of interest in tissue engineering; To learn to apply basic engineering principles to tissue engineering systems; To understand the promises and limitations of tissue engineering; To understand the advances and challenges of stem cell applications; Enable students to access web-based resources in tissue engineering; Enable students to develop basic skills in tissue engineering research.

Code BMET9971
Academic unit Biomedical Engineering
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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AMME5971 or AMME9971 or AMME4971 or BMET4971 or BMET3971
Assumed knowledge:
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AMME9901 or BMET9901 or [6 credit points of 1000-level biology and 6 credit points of 1000-level chemistry]

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. This unit introduces students to the field of Tissue Engineering. Students in thissubject will leave with high-level knowledge of the various approaches and methodsbeing used by tissue engineers. The unit explores machine, material, pharmacologicaland biological-based engineering solutions as tissue replacements and supportivetherapies.
  • LO2. Design - The students will work in groups to complete an assignment on theapplications of tissue engineering to a specified tissue area. In their assignment theywill discuss the advances and future direction and identify key areas of shortcoming inthe specific fields and discuss the general problem and think critically to develop andpostulate novel possible future solutions.
  • LO3. Engineering/IT Specialisation - To develop a theoretical understanding of thebasic concepts of tissue engineering and be exposed to the various specific disciplinesof this field. The students will develop specific expertise through the lectures given byinvited speakers at the forefront of their research, later reviewing, integrating andapplying this knowledge in a series of short-quizzes.
  • LO4. Information Seeking - Students will gain deeper specialised knowledge throughreview of the scientific literature, including current progress in the field of tissueengineering in general. Specifically, they will undertake a thorough scientific search onthe latest development in the research conducted in their chosen assignment topicsduring their work on both the presentation and report.
  • LO5. Communication - Weekly communication tasks will arise during tutorials andlectures where students expand on the materials provided in lectures. Expandedstudies will be presented and discussed within tutorial classes, critically evaluating theirfindings.
  • LO6. Professional Conduct & Teamwork - Team work skills will be developed byparticipating in group tutorial projects. Each group will then discuss the assignedpaper/project in detail, decide on key points and then report back to the entire class