Explain why animal and human experimentation are necessary for the development of new cancer treatments and be aware of their governance.
Investingating human health and disease
Overview
Prepared for the S290 module team by Dr Francesco Crea and Dr Dan Berwick.
The biological basis of cancers touches upon every aspect of cellular function, and cancer incidence in human populations. As such, this topic provides an opportunity to explore many aspects of this multifaceted disease. The topic will detail cancer definitions, global epidemiology of cancer, genetic aspects (oncogenes and tumour suppressors), microevolutionary aspects of cancer (initiation and progression, metastasis), cell signalling and the core principles of gene structure and expression. Cancers will be explored using different approaches including histopathology, immunohistochemistry and gene and protein expression assessment techniques. Investigative aspects will include digital microscopy and analyses of gene expression and life expectancy data in relation to gene expression in malignant tumours. The topic will also explore the ethics of human and animal experimentation, introduce statistical tools used in cancer analysis, and allow you to explore the relevant health science literature.
The assessment for this topic comes in TMA 02.
Learning outcomes
After studying this topic, you will be able to:
Define and use in context, or recognise, definitions and applications of each of the items in bold in the text and defined in the Glossary.
Identify and discuss the main differences that distinguish normal tissues from benign and malignant tumours.
Describe the principles of diagnosis in oncology and of multimodal cancer therapy.
Collect, interpret and present data from tumour sections using microscopy.
Describe the different types of mutation – how they are inherited, affect gene expression and contribute to cancer risk.
Explain how bioinformatics approaches are used to study cancer.
Outline the general principles of signal transduction and the mechanisms by which external signals modify cell behaviour.
Outline how antibodies can be used to investigate expression of specific proteins.
Interpret cancer survival plots (Kaplan−Meier plots) and correlate gene expression with prognosis and therapeutic efficacy.
Explain why animal and human experimentation are necessary for the development of new cancer treatments and be aware of their governance.
Source relevant research papers in the Open University Library.
Provide examples of roles played by health scientists in the health science sector.
