Since1973, genetic engineering technology has been developed at an alarming rate,and its application has penetrated into all fields of people's lives, thus becominga core biotechnology with the most innovative achievements and promisingprospects. The distinguishing feature of this technology is that it can bridgethe insurmountable gap between biological species and open up new methods formodifying the genetic characteristics of organisms in a short period of time.Genetic engineering technology enables the recombination and transfer ofgenetic information between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, between animals andplants, and between humans and other species, to achieve disease diagnosis,drug development, crop improvement and other purposes. At present, the Schoolof Life Sciences in SUSTech has no similar courses in postgraduate course system.There is only a "genetic engineering" course for undergraduates,which mainly aims to popularize the basic knowledge and principles of geneticengineering. However, genetic engineering is changing with each passing day,and new technologies, new methods and new applications are emerging one afteranother. It is necessary to set up "Advances in Genetic EngineeringTechnology and Application" in the postgraduate curriculum system, so thatpostgraduate students can grasp the latest field progress, broaden theirhorizons, and improve their innovation capabilities.  This course will help postgraduate studentsto understand the history of genetic engineering technology, the currentapplication fields and the latest breakthrough achievements, such as thediscovery of gene knockdown technology and its potential for disease treatment,the updates of gene editing technologies (from early ZFNs and TALEN to CRISPR),evolution of sequencing technologies (from first-generation Sanger sequencingto NGS, and then to third-generation sequencing), genetic engineering for transgenicplants and animals, genetic engineering for protein production (eg, directedevolution, phage display and recombinant protein drug development), geneticengineering for cell reprogramming and cell therapy (such as CAR-T, CAR-M andstem cell therapy, etc.), genetic engineering for vaccine development (mRNAvaccine and tumor vaccine, etc. ), genetic engineering for clinical diagnosis(such as prenatal diagnosis and liquid biopsy, etc.), genetic engineering forevolutionary biology and paleontology research, etc. This course can helppostgraduates master cutting-edge technologies and the latest progress inrelated fields, expand their scientific thinking, integrate multidisciplinaryknowledge, and improve their research ability and skills.