MCD BIO 168Stem Cell Biology
Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology · 5 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
State-of-art education of embryonic and adult stem cells and how these pluripotent/multipotent cells can be used to treat congenital defects, diseases, or injury in humans. Review of current knowledge of human and mouse embryonic stem cells and how they develop into various tissue types. Discussion of adult stem cells in hematopoietic, nervous, and other organ systems to provide examples of tissue-specific stem cells and their impact in human disease. Examination of various model organisms as examples of how model organisms have helped to discover fundamental principles in stem cell biology. How advances in cell and molecular biology and tissue engineering can be applied to use of stem cells in regenerative medicine. Ethical and legal issues related to stem cell research.
Letter grading.
When it runs
- Winter 2026
- Winter 2027
Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.
Requisites
Official UCLA wording
Requisites: courses 138, 165A.
BruinTree reads · Prerequisite
confidence 1.00 · from textRequires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
MCD BIO 168
- MCD BIO 138Developmental Biology
- LIFESCI 7ACell and Molecular Biology
- LIFESCI 7BGenetics, Evolution, and Ecology
- LIFESCI 7CPhysiology and Human Biology
- LIFESCI 107Genetics
- MCD BIO 165ABiology of Cells
2 direct requisites. Showing 20 courses over 3 levels; the branches marked with a count carry on past it. Every course here opens its own tree.
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What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.