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Regeneration Biology

By Prof. Rajesh Ramachandran   |   IISER Mohali
Learners enrolled: 932   |  Exam registration: 233
ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course is aimed at gaining knowledge on the mechanisms of tissue regeneration on various animals. Regeneration is a way of living in some group of animals such as planaria and zebrafish, where as it is highly limited to a few tissue types in mammals. Knowledge on the mechanisms of regeneration could eventually may pave way to design strategies to induce regeneration and even culture of organs artificially for transplantation.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Postgraduate and PhD students

PREREQUISITES: Basic knowledge in cell and organismal biology

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Biotechnology and pharma companies could learn from the contents of the course to gain insights on tissue regeneration
Summary
Course Status : Completed
Course Type : Elective
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Biological Sciences & Bioengineering
  • Biosciences
  • Bioengineering
Credit Points : 3
Level : Postgraduate
Start Date : 21 Jul 2025
End Date : 10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends : 04 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends : 22 Aug 2025
Exam Date : 26 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level   : 4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.


Page Visits



Course layout

Week 1: 
1. Basics of regeneration: basics and types 
2. Regeneration, Wound healing and Scar formation in different regenerative capacity 
3. Regeneration: in normal life and implications 
4. Tissue regeneration: mammalian context 
5. Liver regeneration: Signaling events

Week 2: 
6. Liver regeneration: mechanistic insights
7. Regeneration: lessons from animal model Hydra
8. Mechanisms of regeneration in Hydra
9. Asexual Reproduction- Fragmentation. Morphallaxis, Epimorphosis, lessons from Hydra
10. Mechanisms of regeneration in Planaria

Week 3: 

11. Planaria regeneration-polarity and gradient in regeneration
12. Planaria regeneration: Neoblasts and organ formation
13. Planaria regeneration: Species type and enviornment
14. Position control genes and regeneration
15. Progenitor targeting and ectopic organs

Week 4: 

16. Tissue dedifferentiation, cellular reprograming into blastema Cellular types in regeneration. Neural crest cells in vertebrates
17. Totipotency, pluripotency, multipotency and unipotency, in regeneration context
18. Adult stem cells: Natural and induced and their roles in regeneration-zebrafish
19. Common cellular events during regeneration, embryonic development, and cancer
20. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET) in regeneration

Week 5: 

21. Organ regeneration: Basics with examples
22. Zebrafish fin regeneration-in a brief
23. Zebrafish heart regeneration-in a brief
24. Zebrafish retina regeneration-in a brief
25. Spinal cord and brain regeneration-Conclusive mechanisms of regeneration

Week 6: 

26. Cellular, Molecular and Genetic factors involved in retina regeneration
27. Detailed mechanisms of fin regeneration
28. Retina regeneration-importance of Shh signaling Roles of epigenetic factors and their involvement in  regeneration
29. Importance of regeneration associated gene induction events-Transcription activators and repressors
30. Roles of different cellular signaling in regeneration: Examples- Wnt signaling

Week 7: 

31. Different cellular signaling during regeneration-Overview
32. Different cellular signaling during regeneration. Examples- Jak-STAT and Fgf signaling
33. Different cellular signaling during regeneration -Egf, and Hippo signaling
34. Roles of Delta-Notch signaling during regeneration
35. Tgf-beta signaling during regeneration

Week 8: 

36. Organ regeneration: An overview
37. Accessory limb model of regeneration: lessons from Axolotl and newt
38. Nerve-dependent regeneration-Axolotl and Newt
39. Roles of Histone deacetylases in regeneration of vertebrates like fishes and amphibians
40. Dynamics of immune system in organ regeneration regeneration

Week 9: 

41. Extracellular matrix and its roles in tissue regeneration
42. Induced pluripotency and roles if iPFs during tissue Hox genes and homeotic transformation
43. Animal cloning: implications in regeneration
44. Embryonic stem cells, cord blood stem cells and adult stem cells
45. Ethics of stem cell research in regeneration studies, regenerative medicine and biotechnology

Week 10: 

46. Tissue engineering and-Why and how?
47. History of tissue engineering
48. Different steps in tissue engineering
49. Different aspects of organ culture
50. Major challenges in tissue engineering in practice

Week 11: 

51. Tissue 3D printing and organ culture
52. Importance of scaffolds in tissue engineering
53. Stem cells for tissue engineering-Use of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome targeting
54. Types of adult stem cells and trans-differentiation for tissue engineering
55. Influence of niches and scaffolds on stem cells: An organ culture perspective
56. The basics of regeneration put into practice in vitro.

Week 12:
 
57. Adhesion, migration and aggregation of stem cells
58. Artificial, liver, kidney and urinary bladder for transplantation in patients
59. Limbal stem cells and artificial cornea
60. Xenotransplantation vs organ culture in practice
61. Future implications of regeneration in mammals
62. Future implications of Organ culture in patient care

Books and references

  1. Principles of Regenerative Biology. By Bruce M. Carlson 
  2. Regenerative medicine and stem cell biology. Edited by Nagwa El-Badri 
  3. Extracellular Matrix for Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials. Edited by Anna C. Berardi

Instructor bio

Prof. Rajesh Ramachandran

IISER Mohali
Prof.Rajesh Ramachandran has been working in the field of tissue regeneration since 2007. At first he got his training in the tissue regeneration at university of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA (2007-2012), before he moved to IISER-Mohali (2012-till now), where he continues his quest on understanding the mechanisms of retina and fin regeneration in zebrafish. His group also explore limb and tail regeneration using Axolotl model. He has published several research articles to his merit during his research journey which can be found herewith https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=QtfiSCYAAAAJ&hl=en Rajesh has taught several different courses at IISER Mohali including Regeneration Biology, RNA Biology, Epigenetics, Neuroscience, and Developmental Biology

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: October 26, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IISER Mohali .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team
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