Course Descriptions

Required Coursework

Cancer Biology I: Hallmarks of Cancer and Cancer Stem Cells

Objectives: Tumorigenesis is a multi-step process driven by genetic and epigenetic changes that occur over time. Although cancer is a heterogeneous disease, many human tumors exhibit similar acquired physiological features, defined as “The Hallmarks of Cancer” by Hanahan and Weinberg. This course will cover the underlying molecular and cellular biology involved in carcinogenesis, tumor growth, and metastasis. The implications of the biological findings on cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment will be covered.

The goal is course is to provide the student with a solid background in general cancer biology. Upon completion of the class, students should have basic understanding of the mechanisms by which tumors gain and maintain a growth advantage as well as potential therapeutic targets. Upon completion the student will be able to describe:

The hallmarks of cancer
Oncogenes and their importance in carcinogenesis
Tumor suppressors and how they function
How tumor cells escape cell cycle control checks and apoptosis
The replicative immortality of cancer cells
Common cell signaling pathways involved in cancer and how they are disregulated
The process of metastasis and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
The role of tumor microenvironment in tumor maintenance and metastasis
The nature of cancer stem cells and arguments for and against the cancer cell stem hypothesis
How tumors escape destruction by the host’s immune system
The role chronic inflammation plays in cancer
Therapeutic interventions and potential druggable targets

Textbook: “The Biology of Cancer” by Robert A. Weinberg, 2007

Format: Class sessions will be conducted as lectures by faculty in the Cancer Biology Program. Reading assignments will be from the textbook and supplemented with research papers and review articles from the literature.

Attendance Policy: Participation is essential. Therefore, attendance is mandatory. Please discuss all planned absences with Dr. Brown in advance. Make up work will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Grades: The course will be pass/fail. This will be determined by attendance, class participation, preparation for discussions, and an individual project.

Time: The class will meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM in room ND3.218.

Cancer Biology II: Advanced Concepts in Cancer Biology

Sandeep Burma, PhD
Credit: 1.5 hours

Course Description: Advances in the field of cancer biology and cancer therapeutics in the last decade have been nothing short of remarkable. This area of research is moving forward at an accelerated pace with the constant discovery of novel oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, DNA damage responses, cell cycle regulatory mechanisms, signaling pathways , immune and inflammatory responses, and stem cell regulatory mechanisms that dictate the initiation and progression of cancer.

As molecular mechanisms operative in a wide array of cancers are being refined and redefined, we are moving into the next generation of cancer therapeutics which will be “personalized” based on the genetic signature of a specific cancer in an individual patient. With this explosion of information in mind, CBII attempts to expose graduate students with a strong interest in cancer biology to the very latest conceptual advances in molecular cancer biology with a special emphasis on the wide array of cutting edge techniques available to study the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying this devastating disease.

The goal is for the students to develop a keen appreciation of the tools available at hand to dissect the molecular mechanisms controlling cancer development such that they can take this knowledge to the bench to develop their own graduate research.

Course Goals: At one level, the goal of this course is to provide students (especially those who have taken CBI) with knowledge of the latest concepts in cancer biology and cancer therapeutics and a general appreciation of the rapid advances made in this area of biomedicine. An attempt has been made to arrange the lectures thematically to provide the student with an understanding of: 1) how specific cellular processes are altered during cancer initiation and progression, 2) how different cancers are being modeled and studied in the laboratory, 3) how the genetic landscape of human cancers is being deciphered, and 4) how novel therapeutics are being designed to target an individual tumor based upon its genetic signature.

At another level, this course aims to arm beginning graduate students with a working understanding of different cutting-edge methods that are being used to answer key questions in cancer biology and therapeutics. Each lecturer would emphasize at least one key technique or analytical tool that is in use in his or her laboratory. This would, hopefully, empower students to tackle their own graduate research using multi-disciplinary approaches.

Format: Class sessions will be conducted as lectures by faculty in the Cancer Biology Graduate Program. Reading assignments will be from research papers, review articles, and methods articles from the literature.

Attendance Policy: Attendance is mandatory. Please discuss all planned absences with Dr. Burma in advance. Make up work will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Grades: The course will be pass/fail. This will be determined by attendance, class participation, preparation for discussions, and an individual project.

Time: The class will meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM in room ND3.218.

Cancer Biology III: Hypothesis Testing Grant Writing Course

Jerry Shay, PhD
Credit: 1.5 hours

This course prepares students for the qualifying exam that must be passed to officially enroll in the Cancer Biology PhD program, by providing lectures that introduce grant writing and hypothesis-driven experimental science. Following those introductions, the course supports the students through the qualifying exam, with an orientation to the exam process and a series of classes modeled after real NIH-style grant review study sections in which the students critique each other’s hypotheses, abstracts, and proposals. It finishes with the qualifying exam itself. This course is for second year Cancer Biology graduate students that have completed the other Cancer Biology courses.

Time: The class will meet according to the schedule in room K2.610.