As a branch of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology was included in Anatomy as one course before 1950. In 1951, the Medical School of National Tongji University was moved from Shanghai to Wuhan where it merged with the Medical College of Wuhan University to form Central-South Tongji Medical College. Histology and Embryology Teaching and Research Group was set up under the support of Professor Fujing LI, and since then, Histology and Embryology began to be taught as an independent course. Later, it has experienced separation from and combination with Anatomy on and off. In 2004, Department of Histology and Embryology, together with other relevant departments of School of Basic Medicine, established Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Neurological Diseases. In 2007, the lab evolved into a key laboratory of Ministry of Education.
Department of Histology and Embryology now has 14 full-time teaching staff, four of whom are professors, two associate professors, five lecturers and three technicians. Four faculty members are eligible to be PhD supervisors and six supervise graduate students. One teacher is a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, one is awarded Baosteel Excellent Teachers Prize, one is supported by the National Youth Top-notch Talent Support Program in China launched by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, and one is on the list of "100 Talents Plan" of Hubei province. Moreover, most of its teachers also hold a position in such academic organizations as the International Federation of Societies for Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, Chinese Society for Anatomical Sciences, Chinese Society for Cell Biology and so on.
Department of Histology and Embryology is responsible for running histology and embryology courses for undergraduate students of various majors in Tongji Medical College. The department gave a course named Modern Histochemical Techniques for postgraduates in 1995, ran Organogenesis for undergraduates in 1996, began to give bilingual or English lessons in 2002 and adopted PBL teaching in 2006. It represents the first one nationwide to run Medical Developmental Biology course for eight-year clinical medicine students in 2007, and to establish the first Histology Whole Slide Image and web browsing system.
Department of Histology and Embryology has carried out extensive research into the molecular mechanisms of neurological development and diseases, the physio-pathological functions and regulatory mechanisms of ion channels, and mechanisms of tumor development, etc. It has undertaken various projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China with key projects, general programs, youth programs included, and received Start-up Funds for Returnees from the Ministry of Education. Its faculty members have published papers as the first author or corresponding author on top journals including Nature, Nat Genet, Cell Stem Cell, PNAS, J Cell Biol, J Neurosci, J Biol Chem, EMBO Rep, Cell Death Dis, and J Colloid Interface Sci.
