Laboratory Science

In the area of fast-moving medical technologies, graduation and getting licenses are just a starting point. Graduates have a wide variety of options among professions, such as medical technologists, researchers, and business persons. These professions require high expertise and technologies and a scientific way of thinking, and graduates of the graduate school will become core human resources in the near future. The Master’s Program of the Laboratory Science Section covers research fields such as cells, pathogens, higher nervous functions, genetic information, clinical laboratory diagnosis, and physiology. The Doctoral Program covers two research areas including cellular information application and pathological information analysis. A goal of the Master’s Program is to “foster advanced professionals,” and that of the Doctoral Program is to “foster education researchers who are responsible for higher education and leaders of advanced professionals.” Students can conduct their research in a free atmosphere, with research guidance by instructors as well as advice and instruction on research procedures from other teachers. International academic activities, such as acceptance of collaborative research and foreign students, are common, which well offers opportunities for building communication skills in English. In FY 2015, in the Laboratory Science Section, ahead of the universities in Japan, we established “the Clinical Cultivatist Training Course to foster advanced healthcare professionals who would be engaged in regenerative medicine and cell therapy.” In this course, postgraduate students with national qualifications as medical technologists participate in the education program, which is provided cooperatively by the Laboratory Science Section of the Graduate School of Medicine as an educational institute, the Yamaguchi University Hospital in which regenerative medicine and cell therapy are performed, and the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation, a cutting-edge research institute, in accordance with the certification system of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine. To foster advanced healthcare professionals who are engaged in regenerative medicine and cell therapy, a next generation of healthcare technologies is required.