BSc Pharmacology with Entrepreneurship

Tuition fees are considerably lower for your placement year. Please see the fees page for full details.

Students participating in placements outside the UK may be able to apply for funding from the UK's Turing scheme depending on eligibility. Priority will be given to students from low income households.

Cancer is ubiquitous in society it will touch all of us personally in some way within our lifetimes. This course will provide the background knowledge underpining cnacer sciences, basic cancer epidemiology and common environmental and genetic causes. "Introduction to Cancer" provides the foundational understanding of how cancer initiates and overcomes the natural restrictions of controlled tissue growth, including what mainstay and modern therapies are associated to these enabling characteristics. You will explore how enabling hallmarks of cancer such as genomic instability, dysreglated DNA damage mechanisms are key in driving cancer evolution. The unit wil unravel the co-opting of the complex mult-cellular arcitecture of the tumour micro-environment as it transforms a developing tumour.

BIOL21742 pre-requisite is BIOL10232 From Molecules to Cells

To explain broadly, what is cancer? how does it develop? To provide the biological understanding of how cancer is caused and why it succeeds in developing in the body. To have an overview of the cellular complexity and across cell type signalling needed to enable tumour growth by exploring the enabling nature of the tumour microenvironment. Understand how the enabling characteristics and hallmarks of cancer such as DNA damage and genomic instability underpin the initiation and evolution of cancer. Knowledge of how these basic characteristics of cancer can be exploited clinically to treat, diagnose and monitor cancer.

Students will be able to:

• Analyse the historical progression of cancer tumour formation, critically evaluating the stepwise model of development and elucidating the intricate role of cellular function within this context.
• Evaluate the functional significance of oncogenes, distinguishing between drivers, tumour suppressors, and secondary drivers, while appraising their utility as biomarkers and targets for molecular therapeutics.
• Critically assess cancer epidemiology, elucidating common causes, genetic predispositions, and their implications in public health and clinical practice.
• Evaluate the contribution of intracellular enabling characteristics, such as DNA damage, cell-cycle dysregulation, and genomic instability, in initiating and perpetuating cancer progression.
• Analyse cell-cycle dysregulation, focusing on the interplay with tumour suppressors and assessing therapeutic interventions targeting this process.
• Evaluate the intricate cellular composition of developing tumours and the signalling networks essential for sustaining growth and expansion, including angiogenesis and nutrient provision mechanisms.
• Critically appraise clinical strategies leveraging fundamental aspects of cancer biology for the treatment, diagnosis, and monitoring of cancer progression, encompassing chemotherapies, personalized targeted therapies, and contemporary approaches targeting the tumour microenvironment (TME).
• Apply foundational knowledge of biomarkers, oncogene function, and cancer-enabling characteristics to interpret and contextualize "real-world" patient or research data, demonstrating proficiency in translating theoretical understanding into practical insights. 

Basic cancer characteristics: Establishment of a tumour requires a few basic fundamental characteristics you will have an overview of these basic hallmarks and how each one is required to form developing tumours. You will also learn the stages associated with cancer progression, and how it disrupts the natural homeostatic balance of the body.

Cancer epidemiology and common causes: the importance of social statistics in identifying at risk groups, predispositions, and the common causes of cancer. Exploring how some of these common causes lead to mutations in well characterised oncogenes.

Oncogenes and the step wise model of cancer development: Cancer initiation is not a simple process, the development requires alterations in Oncogenes you will learn the basic roles (drivers, tumour suppressors, secondary drivers) and with examples understand the process by which they alter cell biology to initiate and drive cancer progression. Explore how these oncogenes can be used as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in the clinic.

Intracellular enabling hallmarks: To escape the intrinsic controls present in healthy tissues and to have the ability to acquire new cancer characteristics cancer cells must survive and overcome. You will learn about genomic instability, DNA damage, telomer extensions and formation of cell-cycle progression independence.

Tumour Micro-environment: Tumours are not just cancer cells, in fact they make up a minority of the cells in some solid tumours. You will learn what stromal cells are present and what pro-tumour role they play, by maintaining a stable microenvironment. You will learn how cross-talk between cancer cells and the stroma is essential in all phases of cancer progression and how this can be monitored and exploited.

Clinical exploitation of enabling cancer characteristics: With each underpinning characteristic of cancer comes an opportunity to find a therapeutic advantage; you will learn how classical chemotherapies and modern targeted therapies are used in such cases. You will also learn how biomarkers against these hallmarks are used to monitor, diagnosis and alter treatment plans for patients.

Teaching provision: You will engage via an in person and active learning driven curriculum consisting of traditional lectures, Mentimeter learning sessions and Team Based Learning. Some live sessions will be used to teach how data/problem driven questions can be answered using the knowledge obtained from the other learning approaches.  

 

 

Other: 3 TBL activities
 

1 formative data driven problem based/short answer test will delivered before the summative test, group feedback will be given identifying areas of shared expertise and weakness. An online discussion forum and post exam clinic will be available, as well as feedback on the written exam.

Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K & Walter P (2014) Molecular Biology of the Cell (6th edition). Garland Science. Chapters 5, 17 & 20.

Weinberg, Robert A (2014) The Biology of Cancer (Second Edition) Chapters 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, 10-13.