Integrative Developmental Biology

Integrative Developmental Biology (iDB) is an educational initiative created in 2005 by faculty in the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School and is implemented in collaboration with faculty throughout the Harvard community. The iDB initiative is aimed at fulfilling an intellectual challenge stemming from the genomic revolution that has swept biomedical disciplines in the past decade. These new developments present methodological, logistical and epistemological opportunities and challenges that traditional educational approaches can only partially fulfill. We feel it is essential to develop new ways of teaching biology that allow students to approach problems in a multidisciplinary fashion.
 
The iDB effort represents a new educational initiative that is meant to synergize with existing educational programs, involve traditional graduate and medical education and also serve as a template for a novel way of teaching. Traditional semester-length courses and abridged, 2-day courses called nanocourses will both be offered. The iDB will also offer a 2 week, intensive lab-based course that will expose participating students to Experimental Developmental Biology. The iDB will strive to maintain Harvard University Medical School's reputation as a pioneer in biomedical education, utilize existing intellectual capital, and build meaningful connections between all members of the Harvard community.
 
Over the coming year, the iDB initiative will be fully converted into the Developmental and Regenerative Biology (DRB) program within the BBS. The DRB program in BBS will have a truly cross-campus and interdepartmental character, providing a mechanism to engage and integrate the biological and biomedical departments within SCRB, HMS and FAS faculty in the education and training of GSAS students. DRB faculty members are drawn from four different campuses (Cambridge, HMS Longwood, MGH East and MGH Central) and over 10 departments. This diversity in faculty membership will allow incoming students access to an expanded number of faculty whose research interests lie in this area. Nanocourses and innovative curriculum will continue to be offered by the faculty involved in the DRB and BBS programs.