Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology

The Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology traces its origins to the Biology Teaching and Research Section of the former Nanjing Railway Medical College. With a history spanning over ninety years, the Department has maintained uninterrupted teaching and research activities, guided by a succession of distinguished faculty—including Professors Wang Shijun, Shan Xiangnian, Gao Yizhi, Zhang Lishan, Xie Wei and so on. Over the years, it has established the disciplines of Genetics and Medical Genetics, building a solid foundation in both education and research across genetics, medical genetics, and medical cell biology.

Currently, among the faculty are 3 professors, 5 associate professors, and 4 doctoral advisors, 6 master's supervisors.Research covers several internationally competitive areas: (1) genetic basis and evolutionary mechanisms of complex traits and diseases; (2) epigenetic regulation in the initiation and progression of digestive system malignancies; (3) identification and functional studies of microproteins in human cancers;(4)Central nervous system degeneration and reconstruction, cellular ultrastructural pathology and diagnosis; (5) CRISPR-based gene editing and pharmacogenomic profiling in patient-derived tumor organoids (PDOs).Over the past 10 years, the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology has published over 100 SCI-referenced papers, including a long article by the first author in Science, and has obtained more than 10 authorized patents. They have hosted and undertaken over 10 national-level projects such as the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China ((NSFC)), the Normal Project of NSFC, and the Young Fund Project of (NSFC), as well as several provincial and ministerial-level scientific research projects.

The Department offers a comprehensive curriculum at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Undergraduate courses include Medical Cell Biology, Medical Genetics, Cell and Genetics Experiments, Medical Cell and Genetics, Genetic Testing and Rare Diseases, Analytical Strategies for Genetic Variation and Their Clinical Translation, and Organ Injury and Ultrastructural Pathology. Graduate-level offerings comprise Epigenetics and Precision Medicine, Medical Electron Microscopy and Ultrastructural Pathology, and Foundations and Applications of Medical Genetics. Faculty members are actively engaged in pedagogical innovation—incorporating AI-integrated course design and discipline-specific ideological and political education into the curriculum—and have been awarded multiple university-level teaching reform grants.The mission of the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology is to excel in research, teaching, service and mentoring.