Course

Unit 1

Introduction: Introduction to carcinogenesis; Clonal origins of cancer, Experimental biology, Clinical data, Linking laboratory and clinic; Defining a neoplasm: Classifying cancers.

Unit 2

Epidemiology: Descriptive epidemiology, Analytical epidemiology, Criteria required to establish causality, Biomarkers, Molecular epidemiology, Factors that influence human carcinogenesis; Chemical and radiation carcinogenesis: Chemical carcinogenesis, Radiation carcinogenesis.

Unit 3

Growth: Cancer cells, Senescence, Cell mortality and telomerase, Apoptosis and cancer; Responding to the environment: General features, How a cell interacts with its environment, Hydrophobic growth regulatory molecules, Cross-talk between signaling pathways.

Unit 4

Invasion and metastasis: Escape from local control and invasion, Intravasation, Transport in the bloodstream, Extravasation, Angiogenesis, Gene changes involved in metastasis.

Unit 5

Crowd Control: Mechanisms of immune response to cancer, Tumour microenvironment, Pro- and anti-tumour activities in tumour microenvironment, How tumor cells evade from immune responses.

Unit 6

Principles of cancer treatment: Principles behind the treatment of cancer, New forms of treatment; Approaches to cancer prevention.

Pre-requisites: Undergraduate level basic biology, chemistry and medical science

Total number of classes: 45

Course Outcome

CO1 To understand carcinogenesis, clinical connection and classification of cancers based on cellular origin

CO2 To understand the epidemiology of cancer including biomarkers and chemical and radiation-related origins of cancer 

CO3 To learn about the connection between cell division, cell differentiation and apoptosis, and cancer.

CO4 To understand invasion of cancer cells and colonization at other sites in the body

CO5 To learn about tumour immunology, immune evasion of cancer cells and new forms of cancer therapy

Programme Outcomes (PO) (As given by NBA and ABET)

PO1: Bioscience Knowledge

PO2: Problem Analysis

PO3: Design/Development of Solutions

PO4: Conduct Investigations of complex problems

PO5: Modern tools usage

PO6: Bioscientist and Society

PO7: Environment and Sustainability

PO8: Ethics

PO9: Individual & Team work

PO10: Communication

PO11: Project management & Finance

PO12: Lifelong learning

0 – No affinity; 1 – low affinity; 2 – Medium affinity; 3 – High affinity

Program Specific Outcomes. (PSO)

PSO 1 – Biochemical organization and cellular complexity in function

PSO 2 – Biomolecules in Medicine 

PSO 3 – Molecular dysregulation in diseases

PSO 4 – Molecular technology in diagnosis and therapy

PSO 5 – Cell based approaches in diagnosis and therapy

PSO 6 – Microorganisms in Medicine

PSO 7 – Nanoscale entities and its significance in Medicine 

PSO 8 – Tissue architecture engineering in Medicine

PSO 9 – Compounds as drugs and its efficacy

PSO 10 – Bioinformatics and biological data use

Text book
Lewin’s Essential Genes, Jocelyn E. Krebs, Benjamin Lewin, Elliott S. Goldstein, Stephen T. Kilpatrick,Jones& Bartlett Publishers, 2013 – Science – 847 pages

References

Molecular Biology of the Gene, Seventh Edition, James D. Watson, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Tania A. Baker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Alexander Gann, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Michael Levine, University of California, Berkeley; Richard Losick, Harvard University,2013