FAS Approves New Life Sciences Concentration

The Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology will offer a new undergraduate concentration in human development this fall—among the first of its kind at a national university.

The concentration in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology will focus on the development, aging, and regeneration of the human body. It marks Harvard’s seventh new concentration in the life sciences in the past three years, representing another step in the further undergraduate specialization in the life sciences at the University.

In his presentation at yesterday’s Faculty meeting, Molecular and Cellular Biology Professor Douglas A. Melton emphasized that HDRB will not be a vocational concentration designed for pre-med students.

“It’s a fundamental life science concentration with the focus on the human organism,” he told the Faculty.

“The concentration, simply put, is about how humans develop,” he added. “How does a fertilized egg turn into an embryo, turn into a fetus, turn into an adult?”

Although Melton argued that the new concentration is not preprofessional, many HDRB classes will be taught next fall by Medical School professors. The SCRB department—itself a joint venture of FAS and Harvard Medical School, begun in 2007—is currently offering courses that will count toward the nascent concentration’s requirements.

The undergraduate study of biology at Harvard has grown increasingly specialized over the past three years, with Harvard now offering nine life science concentrations—including HDRB—as of next fall.

Harvard is still in the process of phasing out its own biology and biochemical sciences concentrations, which the Faculty voted to eliminate in favor of six more specialized fields in the spring of 2006.

Melton said that he hopes HDRB will bridge the gap between the existing human evolutionary biology and molecular and cellular biology concentrations.

He told The Crimson yesterday that he believed undergraduates prefer finding their home in smaller concentrations under the Life Sciences umbrella.

Harvard’s seven recently created life science concentrations are the only non-engineering concentrations that have been created at Harvard College since 1992.

HDRB will emphasize hands-on research under the guidance of faculty affiliated with the department, according to Melton, who will co-tutor the concentration with stem cell researcher Kevin Eggan.

The new concentration has been in the works for over a year, according to MCB professor Robert A. Lue, who was an active participant in the discussions surrounding the creation of HDRB.

The approval of the new concentration comes on the heels of the recent passage of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package—a boon for stem cell researchers who are now eligible for some of the $10.4 billion earmarked for the National Institutes of Health, typically a generous source of federal funding for biomedical researchers at Harvard.

The current freshmen class will be the first that will be able to declare a concentration in HDRB.

—Staff writer Bonnie J. Kavoussi can be reached at kavoussi@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu