97190 - Mesenchymal Stem Cells (Msc) Role in Bone Tissue Regeneration and Tumor Microenvironment

Academic Year 2025/2026

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Medical Biotechnology (cod. 9081)

    Also valid for Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Medicine and Surgery (cod. 9210)

Course contents

The role of mesenchymal stem cells in tissue regeneration and cancer development. Specifically:

  • What are MSCs, how they are phenotypically characterized, from which sources they are obtained for therapeutic purposes, how they are cultured and amplified, paracrine activity and secretome.
  • What are advanced therapies, what are cell factories, costs and benefits of cell therapies, biological risks, clinical experiences.
  • Transformed mesenchymal cells, cancer stem cells, culture and genotypic and phenotypic characterization of sarcomas (including oncogenes), 2D and 3D cultures, organoids, and microfluidics.
  • Tumor microenvironment, metabolism, acidity, therapeutic targets.

Readings/Bibliography

Scientific articles published in international journals and online sources

Teaching methods

Lectures, video and interactive surveys

Assessment methods

Multiple choice test including questions of all teaching activities of the Course. Each answer may carry a positive or negative grade, so that choosing half plus one of the questions will result in a good grade

Teaching tools

Selected slides, online sources and PubMed articles

Office hours

See the website of Margherita Cortini

SDGs

Good health and well-being

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.