This class was all around a nice experience. Very manageable workload, fair tests, interesting content, and an understanding professor/TA made for an overall great experience.

There isn't much else I have to say; if you're looking for a class to take and are interested in stem cells, regenerative medicine, or biological science at large, I'd definitely recommend this class!

Professor Austin is one of the most welcoming and engaging professors at UCLA. She is always interacting with her students and encouraging them to participate in class. The content is taught from a scientific perspective but also takes into account the modern-day relevance and application of stem cells. The assignments are very reasonable and there are lots of extra credit opportunities available throughout the quarter. The exams do cover a wide range of topics, but all the relevant material is covered multiple times in class. Every lecture starts with an interactive recap that helps solidify previous content. Professor Austin is also very accessible during her office hours if you need additional help and she genuinely tries to make a connection with each student in the class. Highly recommend this course!!

I think Professor Austin was a great Professor. I joined the class not having any prior background or very limited knowledge about biology. I originally had dropped the class after having attended two lectures and thought it would be too hard, but Professor Austin personally reached out and offered to personally catch me up if I felt it was too tough for me. Overall, she's one of the kindest Professor's I've encountered, she's always willing to make sure the students are enjoying the lectures and just overall makes sure that her students aren't overworked. She's one of the few professor's that understands her students have other classes. Genuinely can say that she's a great teacher.

Compared to other classes on campus, this class is a breath of fresh air. I took this class as an elective while taking upper divs. The workload was very managable and there was a great deal of extra credit opportunities that were both engaging and reinforced class material. Professor Austin does a great job in making the class interactive through questions and drawing out diagrams on the chalkboard. Our final review was even in a bingo format. She's very caring, takes the time to find amazing guest lecturers like Dr. Kohn, and does her best to interact and help students even in class. I definitely recommend this class for anyone.

Professor Austin did a great job teaching the class. She's also one of the nicest professors I met at UCLA. She posts weekly notes recapping the week's lecture material which helped a lot for studying. Professor Austin also offered extra credit throughout the course so I didn't feel too worried about my grade in the class. The workload wasn't bad at all, and you only had to attend around 40% of the lectures so you don't have to show up to every lecture. The lectures were very interesting and covered recent developments surrounding stem cell treatments. Professor Austin also hosted weekly office hours recapping the week's content which was extremely helpful. If you attend most of the lectures and submit your assignments on time, you should easily be able to get a good grade in the class.

Dr. Austin is the best Professor that I have seen at UCLA. She explains everything very clearly and tells you whatever is needed for exams. I wish she would teach more classes, but I am so happy that I was in her MCDB 90 class. I learned a lot, and I will never forget her efforts and how helpful she was. Thank you very much Dr. Austin for everything.

I took this class as a GE and highly recommend since I found it to be very interesting and enjoyable with a small class dynamic. Professor Austin taught this class well and clearly communicated to students on how the tests and quizzes would be. The workload was very manageable and her assignments were unique and interesting, often evoking critical thinking. My favorite one was a presentation on a stem cell topic of our choice. Additionally, her lectures were in-depth and engaging, and getting a good grade in the class is easy as long as you pay attention in the lectures. The tests include some tricky questions, but they are more than made up for by the abundant extra credit opportunities she gives. If you do happen to miss some classes, Professor Austin is also very accessible at office hours to help you catch up.

The only good thing about this class and teacher is that its an easy A. Other than that prof. austin is actually a horrible lecturer and bad teacher in general. She treats us like children, and forcibly makes us participate even when we dont have our hands raised. She is always late to class and was even late to the final, the quizzes and exams she swears will take you ten minutes and is really easy, but makes it actually difficult for no reason at all. Her final made 0 sense, it was poorly written and seemed like it was made the night before. Overall, if you're looking for an easy A but horrible experience take the class, lol. But if you do not want to deal with the headache that Prof. Austin is just take LS7A as your GE lol.

I went into this class as a non-STEM major, and while a class on stem cells seemed daunting, learning complex and relevant topics was a rewarding experience for me. Professor Austin is wonderful--she is knowledgeable and passionate about the material. Although this class is a GE, there are a lot of MCDB/STEM majors. The professor is aware of that, and at times, I felt overwhelmed as some bio topics were briefly glazed over in lecture. However, going to the professor's office hours and asking the TAs questions helped close that gap. There are numerous opportunities for extra credit, and all of the assignments, quizzes, and presentations are manageable.

I never felt like my time was wasted or that I didn't gain anything from this class. The professor changes the material each quarter and makes it relevant to current day. This quickly became my favorite class. Also, the professor selects very committed, helpful TAs.

I also want to mention that Professor Austin really values participation. I personally went to all of her office hours + occasionally raised my hand in class; I want to emphasize how important participation is to succeed in the class. She actually cares about her students and makes a note of the ones who are participating and trying to engage with the material. All in all, would recommend.

Worst professor I've ever had at UCLA (and I'm a MCDB major, rising senior, so I've taken some pretty tough classes with some pretty horrible professors). Super disorganized from the beginning, and two weeks into the course she decided to change our quiz date for no concrete reason - based on 'popular vote'. Yet when students stated that they would not be able to take the quiz on the new date due to conflicts, she stated that there would be an online option, but that we would be given 'significantly less time', as if that would somehow discourage us from taking that option, even if we had no other choice (once again did explain why we would be given less time online). In my opinion, a professor has to lead by example, and can't expect students to accommodate to multiple changes in deadlines, course structure, etc., while refusing to give students an INCH of leeway. When I asked WELL in advance if there was any way I could make up my attendance for a discussion section and lecture, due to a medical appointment, she did not even bother to respond, and my TA only responded the day after the section had already happened, only to state that "there is no makeup policy for this class". So are students simply expected to accept doing poorly in this class, not because of a lack of effort or poor academic performance, but because of extenuating circumstances they cannot control? Additionally, our assignments would randomly get regraded to lower grades with NO explanation, and the TA did not grade according to the rubric. Which meant that there was no consistency with grading, yet because this was such a small class, there weren't enough students to stand up to the professor or TA, without fear of retribution. Overall, poorly disorganized and if I had known this required class for the minor would have been taught like this, I would not have applied to the minor at all. Point blank period.