Cell therapy and gene silencing

The course is aimed at providing the basis to understand the use of cell therapy and gene silencing for the treatment of human diseases. Specifically, the course will discuss the origin and heterogeneity of available human cell-based medical products and their complexity. The differences between autologous or allogenic, stem or induced pluripotent stem cells will be discussed. Further, the course will offer an overview on technologies crucial for gene and cell therapies such as gene editing and safe viral vectors for gene delivery and as basis for prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.

At the end of the course, the student should possess the specific knowledge to understand the generation and the application of cell therapy and gene silencing techniques to treat human diseases. In particular, the student should have acquired the basic principles of gene therapy, including gene transfer technologies, therapeutic strategies and their efficiency. The student should also demonstrate to possess the appropriate biological terminology to communicate the most relevant and recent topics in the field of cell therapy and gene silencing.