Anonymous AY25/26 Sem 2

About the Instructor

Before I start the review proper, it is important to preface that Prof has Parkinson's. He struggles to talk for long as his tremors make it hard for him to control his movements. 

Many of the lessons are driven by NotebookLM. Bluntly put, this course could have just been a DYOC at our own pace, and it probably wouldn't have been too different, but if it was for 2 units. 

Yes, the classes did not benefit much from Prof's inputs as Prof didn't speak much, and when he spoke, it was hard to understand him. Despite that, you can see his passion for the subject, and how he wanted us to learn. 

The management of this course was horrible though. The TAs were not aligned, changing their instructions last-minute, and being vague, despite us asking them repeatedly. They also preferred to disseminate instructions more to each group's leaders for the final.

Content (Structure/Organization)

But frankly speaking, this course still continues because of its extensive range of guest speakers and even a site visit to a manufacturing facility. 

Prof has many connections, and he used them well. We heard from an ethics professor, a patent lawyer, a global health professor, 3 executives (one dealing with regenerative implants, another dealing with insect-based protein and the last one doing mass-produced lab equipment), a civil servant and others. The lessons could be quite insightful, and the global health professor knew this, so she joined the rest of our classes as a student too. 

The assessments could definitely be improved though. One of them was to reflect on our site visit to the regenerative implant company. Given everyone went through the same tour, heard the same questions and answers, and saw the same facilities, I found it hard to differentiate my reflection from my classmates. 

There was also an ethical debate moderated by the ethics professor. I felt that the weightage of 10% for that was too little, as it was a legit debate with teams having to rebut on the spot. 

Before every alternate seminar, we had to submit a few questions for discussion or to ask the guest speakers. These questions, which would usually be assigned to each group, could be quite technical at times, meaning my classmates and I were also using AI tools to aid us. Every group would then present to the class. 

The final was one of the most interesting projects I have ever done. It involved us testing hypotheses about cultivated meat, before coming up with a plan for a fictional startup. We had to defend our plan against Prof.

Manageability of Workload

Frankly, quite little. Even the final wasn't that heavy because despite my best effort to get myself to speed on scientific concepts as I was part of the operations team, I still relied on AI. In his Q&A, Prof is also mindful of your major and will tweak his questions accordingly.

Ease/Difficulty of Attaining Grades:

No clue. We shall see

Learning Value/Recommendation

Honestly, I think this course really blew my mind. I usually write that to patronise people, but no, this NST isn't really a NST at all, it's more of a class on how to build a startup actually. You can use this as a stepping stone to NOC, I guess. Jokes aside, with the science at the start, I thought this was going to be a hardcore science course, but thinking about it now, there wasn't really any component that really needed a deep science understanding.

Additional Comments

Frankly, if you are looking to learn from Prof, then this course is definitely not for you as he is not as strong as he used to be. But I urge you to look past his condition and the use of AI tools to teach, and instead learn about how science and business intersect. He has also asked a lot of guest speakers to come and help out with the class, and it was really comprehensive in developing my understanding of this subject.

Wang Meng Zhe (@Meng_zhe) AY21/22 Sem 2

About the Instructor

1. Kudos to Prof Hanry for overcoming his condition to teach us (but his condition is worsening year by year, he may not offer this mod someday, and this day may be sooner than we think).

2. He is really a pioneer and expert in this field in Singapore. He is very well connected and can invite all those guest speakers from various parts of the regen med ecosystem.

3. He is passionate about certain issues and gets so excited that he needs to pause for a while to control himself before he can continue talking.

4. In my opinion, his two major thinking behind this module: 

    1. first is to spread the literacy in the field of biology (he was very proud when he told us that one of his students with a biz background many years back still read bio papers and is able to comprehend the gist and email him to discuss some of the topics)

    2. second is to raise more generalising specialists and specialising generalists (this is the topic of his first seminar and is the main reason why he wants to continue teaching despite his condition. This is part of his philosophy, not just for teaching in USP, but also for his lab. Students working in his lab has diverse backgrounds and they all work together) 

Content (Structure/Organization)

1. This is a seminar mod. Lessons take place in an LT with all the students, Prof Hanry, and his TAs (PHD students working under him).

2. There will be one onsite visit to a bio company, one debate on bioethics, and many guest lectures on various topics towards the end of the sem (from ethics and law, to entrepreneurship and products showcase), all related to regenerative medicine.

3. Teaching is structured. The plan for each week will come out at the beginning of the sem. Each seminar will focus on a diff topic under regen med, which can be technical (bio focused) or non-technical (the ethical, biz, legal aspect).

4. Reading materials will be given out at the beginning of the sem. You are required to do the relevant readings before the seminar and submit a question on those readings. If it’s a guest lecture, you will be required to submit questions for the guest lecturer to address.

5. Each class is split into 4 groups. This grouping will remain the same for the entire sem.

6. Each seminar is divided into 2 parts. Prof Hanry will take around 30-40 mins to go through the slides, giving a mini lecture on that week’s topic. The remaining time is for discussion. Prof will choose 4 questions from all the questions submitted before lecture. Each group will get one question and use that time to discuss among the group members, facilitated by one of the TAs. After the discussion, each group will present on their discussion, which is the response to the question assigned to them.

7. Homework: all the pre-seminar questions (which requires you to go through the readings), reflection after the factory visit, one final report on regenerative medicine (structure: identify problem-propose hypothesis on its cause-propose your solution and justify)

1. Of course there is technical learning. It is a bio mod focusing on a very specialised field - regenerative medicine.

2. But anyone who went through the readings will be able to keep up with it. It is nothing too fancy. 

3. Even if you don’t do the readings, don’t participate in discussion, you’ll still survive. But then you wouldn’t benefit much from this mod.

Accessibility

1. This is a bio mod, specifically, a mod focusing on regenerative medicine/tissue engineering.

2. Majority of the readings are scientific journals with terms and jargons.

3. Despite this, overall, in my opinion, this mod is still considered accessible, in a sense that you can follow along in class if you do the readings. Do not expect easy content and brainless discussions. If you want to participate meaningfully in class, you need to put in a bit of effort.

4. The first lesson is a killer. Prof Hanry gave a crash course on biology. Brace through that and you will be fine.

5. The readings are technical but you don’t have to understand every bit of info inside. As long as you have a general idea of what’s going on and can follow and participate in class, I think it’s good enough.

6. In a way, it really depends on your motivation for taking this module, what you expect to gain from it, and the amount of effort you are willing to put in. It can go either way. If you really want to get to the bottom of every concept accurately, then the difficulty level of this mod will grow exponentially. In a nutshell, the accessibility of this mod actually depends on you.

Manageability of Workload

1. All the requirements have been stated above. Your workload really depends on you.

2. Do not underestimate the readings. You’ll be able to understand most of them as long as you read. But it WILL take some time since it is technical and I assume not many of us are familiar with this field of study.

3. The report is not too bad. Just be clear and follow the structure given. This is not a WCT mod. I rushed it in the last week and I guess it worked.

Ease/Difficulty of Attaining Grades

1. I put in some effort at the beginning of the sem to go through all the readings but gradually slack off as the sem goes. But I still participate actively during group discussions and guest lectures.

2. The report was rushed but I’m satisfied with its quality. It is not too trash. 

3. I got B+, which I’m happy with.

4. The grading rubrics is distributed evenly between class participation (group discussion, debate) and submissions (pre-seminar questions, reflection, report). But to be honest, I don’t know how they keep track of the class part since the TAs all sit at the back of the LT and I don’t see Prof Hanry taking notes. My group’s TA was still not sure about everyone’s name and that was close to the end of the sem. So… 

Learning Value/Recommendation

1. It is useful to me as it broadened my scope of knowledge. This is a niche field of study and you probably won’t find it in this easily accessible format elsewhere.

2. If you are not interested in biology, this may not be the right mod for you. You may feel it's too cumbersome to do all the technical readings and therefore not gaining much from the mod.

3. If you are here because of wolverine, you will be disappointed.

4. If you are just curious and wants to learn more about stuff that you don’t know, go for it. 

Bharatkumar Sriram (@bksriram) AY21/22 Sem 2

About the Instructor

Prof Hanry Yu is extremely passionate and dedicated about the subject, and it is very visible in his overall demeanor in the lessons. He is very helpful and is very willing to guide you through any questions you may have, and his wealth of research and industry experience is genuinely a goldmine of knowledge he is willing to share.

Content (Structure/Organization)

The module covers various different concepts of biomedical sciences and engineering, along with many different guest lecturers coming in to showcase the biomedical sector within SG. The lectures are themselves rather self isolated with little relation to one another, but they explore different parts of the larger topic of biomedical engineering and regenerative medicine as a whole.

Accessibility

The module is heavily technical and it covers a lot of scientific and technical concepts. While there are some lessons that tackle more conceptual topics like bioethics, the overall scientific rigour for the module is heavy, and despite Prof Yu's efforts to simplify and explain the concepts in a simpler manner, the module is rather difficult. It would benefit you to have prior knowledge and/or formal education in Life Sciences or Engineering to help understand the lectures better. That being said, the final paper does not necessarily have to be scientific in nature, so it might help alleviate some of the difficulty.

Manageability of Workload

The workload for the module is highly dependent on the weekly topic. For some topics, readings can be long and strenuous, requiring hours to understand just 5-10 pages. For other days, they could be simple slides which can be skimmed through very easily. The majority of the content heavy readings are in the earlier periods of the module, which is good for those with a busier second half of the semester.

Majority of the grade is dependant on class participation, which is not really difficult to obtain as it is measured by pre-lecture question submission. Beyond that, there is a reflection essay, bioethics debate and a final paper where the topic can be anything relating to biomedical sciences (scientific or humanities based)

The module imparts a lot of scientific rigour and will require a basic understanding of biology (minimally) to really follow through in the lectures. Beyond that, Prof Yu would also offer insights on translating research to usable products which helps to explore the engineering part of the module. Lectures on Bioethics and guest lectures also provide an opportunity to learn about the more humanities and economics aspect of regenerative medicine and biomedical sciences.

Ease/Difficulty of Attaining Grades

Obtaining a good grade can be rather difficult as class participation determines a very large portion of your grades. Hence, your grade will heavily depend on your written works. The marking for the essays are unclear as we were not given any scores for them, and thus do not know how we performed for each individual component.

Learning Value/Recommendation

As someone very interested in regenerative medicine, the module was extremely useful and provided me new insights on the field of biomedical engineering and medicine. The class structure allowed for a good introduction to different topics, and Dr Hanry Yu's enthusiasm made every lesson a joy to attend. I would highly recommend this modules to anyone interested in the field, but with the caveat that the scientific rigour for the module is genuinely high.