Introduction of Premedical Curriculum at the College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea / 의학교육논단

Premed education in the college of medicine at the Catholic University of Korea aims to promote student creativity and excellence in accordance with the mission of the college: to have a sense of calling, leadership, and competency. The Catholic Medical College premed curriculum includes 75 credits which are composed of 65 credits for required courses and 10 credits for elective courses. It consists of courses in basic science, medical science, liberal arts and humanities (premedical OMNIBUS). It also involves community programs in ‘Vision and Mission,’ ‘Leadership Training,’ and ‘Academic Conference.’ In addition, students are allowed self-directed choice of their courses and learning for one quarter.

Distribution of Adenoviral Vector in Brain after Intravenous Administration

The delivery of transgenes to the central nervous system (CNS) can be a valuable tool to treat CNS diseases. Various systems for the delivery to the CNS have been developed; vascular delivery of viral vectors being most recent. Here, we investigated gene transfer to the CNS by intravenous injection of recombinant adenoviral vectors, containing green fluorescence protein (GFP) as a reporter gene. Expression of GFP was first observed 6 days after the gene transfer, peaked at 14 days, and almost diminished after 28 days. The observed expression of GFP in the CNS was highly localized to hippocampal CA regions of cerebral neocortex, inferior colliculus of midbrain, and granular cell and Purkinje cell layers of cerebellum. It is concluded that intravenous delivery of adenoviral vectors can be used for gene delivery to the CNS, and hence the technique could be beneficial to gene therapy.