Department of Histology and Embryology

Histology and Embryology is a fundamental core discipline for medical students. The department consists of 2 professors, 4 associate professors and 3 lecturers. Among the faculty members, 1 recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (Professor Zhao Chunjie), and one winner of the Jiangsu Distinguished Young Scholars Fund and selected candidate of the Young Talent Support Project of the China Association for Science and Technology (Professor Zhu Lijuan). Two faculty members are recognized as Zhishan Scholars of Southeast University, forming an academic team with a well-balanced talent structure, broad academic vision and vibrant research atmosphere.

Professor Zhao Chunjie, the academic leader of the discipline, served as the chief scientist of the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) and chief expert of the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program). She has been honored with numerous awards and titles including National Model Worker for Women, Distinguished Young and Middle-aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions in Jiangsu Province, and the Outstanding Contribution Award under the Jiangsu Provincial "333 Talent Project".

In recent years, the Department of Histology and Embryology has witnessed steady advancement in teaching and research capacity, undertaking training programs for undergraduates, master’s and doctoral students. Integrating multidisciplinary research methodologies covering neurobiology, cell biology, bioinformatics, developmental biology, molecular biology and behavioral science, the department’s research team conducts cutting-edge studies in multiple key areas: induced differentiation of stem cells, brain development, genetic mechanisms and functional genomics of mental disorders, pathological mechanisms of affective disorders and novel drug targets, as well as nerve injury and repair. A series of landmark research achievements have been accomplished.

The department has undertaken a wide array of research projects funded by national and provincial authorities, including the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program), National Key R&D Program, Innovation 2030 Major Projects, Distinguished Young Scientists Fund, Excellent Young Scientists Fund, Key Program, Joint Fund, General Program and Young Scientists Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, alongside provincial and ministerial research grants. Relevant findings have been published in world-renowned academic journals such as Cell, Nature Medicine, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Brain, Advanced Science, PNSA, Development, The Journal of Neuroscience, Neuroscience Bulletin, and Cerebral Cortex, drawing extensive attention from global peers.

Committed to pedagogical reform, the department extensively adopts modern teaching technologies to continuously elevate teaching quality, delivering outstanding teaching outcomes that win high recognition from teachers and students, with top rankings in annual teaching evaluations. It offers systematic courses tailored to diverse majors including Clinical Medicine, Medical Imaging, Medical Laboratory Science, Preventive Medicine, Nursing and Biomedical Engineering, such as Histology and Embryology and the fully English-taught course Morphological Laboratory Science. A full spectrum of neuroscience courses is provided for learners at undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels, including Neurobiology, Medical Neurobiology and a series of innovative interdisciplinary courses.

The department also delivers fully English-medium courses for international students and Clinical Medicine majors. Faculty members have served as chief editors or contributing editors for multiple national and provincial textbooks, and developed multimedia teaching courseware for histology and related subjects. The textbook Practical Histology and Embryology, to which the department contributed, was awarded the Second Prize for Excellent Teaching Achievements in Jiangsu Universities.