2024 Faculty Courses School of Materials and Chemical Technology Department of Materials Science and Engineering Graduate major in Materials Science and Engineering
Medical Polymers
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Materials Science and Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Chie Kojima
- Class Format
- Lecture (Livestream)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 3-4 Wed
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- MAT.P417
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2024
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 14, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
Cutting-edge medical treatments such as nanomedicine and regenerative medicine are supported by various kinds of medical polymers. This course focuses on cancer and covers cancer therapy and diagnosis technologies as well as medical polymers required for cancer treatments, because cancer is the leading cause of death in Japan. This course also covers medical polymers related to regenerative medicine for cardiac and neurological diseases.
Course description and aims
At the end of this course, students will be able to
・Have an understanding of cancer diagnosis, and explain medical polymers in bioimaging.
・Have an understanding of cancer chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and explain medical polymers as biological medicines and in drug and gene delivery systems.
・Have an understanding of regenerative medicine, and explain medical polymers for regenerative medicine.
Keywords
Proteins, Cancer therapy・diagnosis, Drug discovery, Drug delivery system, Regenerative medicine
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
All materials used in class can be found on T2SCHOLA in advance. In each class, the contents will be explained via ZOOM system on live, without any on-demand videos. Towards the end of each class (about 10 min), we have a Q&A session, and students are given quiz related to what is taught on that day, in order to improve the understanding.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Overview of this class | Have an understanding of cancer, and explain strategy of cancer diagnosis and therapy. |
| Class 2 | Functional proteins | Explain enzymes, antibodies and green fluorescent proteins. |
| Class 3 | Bioimaging and the medical polymers | Explain various imaging technologies and imaging probes for fluorescence imaging, nuclear medicine imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and so on. |
| Class 4 | Drug discovery and the medical polymers | Explain biological medicines and drug delivery systems using polymers and nanoparticles. |
| Class 5 | Virus-inspired gene delivery | Explain properties of viruses and gene delivery. |
| Class 6 | Regenerative medicine and the medical polymers | Explain regenerative medicine using stem cells (iPS cells) and the roles of biomedical polymers. |
| Class 7 | Nanomedicine | Explain cutting-edge biomedical polymers. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
None
Reference books, course materials, etc.
References will be distributed via T2SCHOLA system.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Students will be assessed on their understanding of medical polymers in cancer diagnosis, cancer therapy and regenerative medicine. Students’ course scores are based on quiz given in each class (40%) and reports (60%).
Related courses
- MAT.C412 ： Polymeric Biomaterials
Prerequisites
Knowledge of basic organic chemistry and biopolymer chemistry is desirable.