Typical Student Curriculum and Course Schedule

Course Descriptions

Required Courses:

CABI 701. Molecular Pathogenesis of Cancer. (2) Reviews the discovery, biochemistry, and function of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, signal transduction pathways, and regulators of the cell cycle, including cyclins, cyclin-dependent kinases and inhibitors. Both normal function and dysfunction relating to cancer are covered. P—Familiarity with basic biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology. S. Torti

CABI 702. Carcinogens, DNA Damage and Repair. (3) Covers the identification and reaction mechanisms of environmental carcinogens, DNA damage and mutagenesis by endogenous and exogenous mechanisms, and nucleotide excision repair, base excision repair, double strand break repair, and mismatch repair. P—Undergraduate courses in organic chemistry and biochemistry. Miller

CABI 704. Cell Biology of Cancer. (3) Teaches students how to evaluate and communicate scientifically in the area of cell biology and cancer. Examples are taken from all areas of cancer in this advanced course. Uses current peer-reviewed journal articles to teach fundamental concepts and act as a medium for allowing the students to communicate ideas. Prepares the student to write a thesis proposal and practice defending this proposal. P—Undergraduate biochemistry and CABI 701. Cramer

CABI 707, 708. Topics in Cancer. (1) A weekly lecture series. Each week throughout the fall and spring semesters, a different topic in the clinical presentation, course, and treatment of human malignancies is presented. Designed to be a comprehensive overview of clinical oncology for clinical medical and radiation oncology fellows and cancer biology graduate students. Kucera, Staff

CABI 711, 712. Advanced Topics in Cancer Biology. (1) Focuses on new and important aspects of research in cancer biology with an emphasis on the current literature. Themes are chosen by the course director and the students. A topic is selected for presentation by each student; with the help of the course director, the student prepares a short lecture to introduce the topic, assigns two key papers for participants to read, and provides a supplemental reading list. The following week, the student leads a discussion of key experimental findings. Broad participation from faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students is encouraged. Kridel, Staff

CABI 723, 724. Research in Cancer Biology. Opportunities for investigation in a variety of the facets of cancer biology under the guidance of staff members. Staff

BICM 705. Biochemistry I. (4) Examination of the basic physical and chemical principles underlying protein structure, protein assembly and interactions, enzyme function, and production and storage of metabolic energy within cells. Contemporary concepts concerning the organization and cellular regulation of metabolic pathways are also presented. P—General and organic chemistry, general biology, or POI. Hantgan

BICM 731. Molecular Biology. (3) A survey of the fundamentals of molecular biology. Included are fundamentals of microbial genetics and discussions of nucleic acid structure and mutagenesis, DNA replication and recombination, transcription and control of gene expression and protein translation (1h). The introduction is followed by an advanced treatment of these topics, and discussions of mammalian genetics and immunogenetics with emphasis on current trends in research. P or C—BICM 705. Perrino, Staff

PSPR 741. Quantitative Methods in Behavioral Science. (2) Addresses applied statistical approaches within common behavioral research studies. Focus is on selection of the most appropriate test for research aims and hypotheses as well as computational methods. Specific topics include power analyses, effect sizes, analyses of variance, analyses of covariance, regression techniques, multivariate statistics, and post hoc testing. Ligouri, Staff

Elective Courses:

CABI 713, 714. Cancer Biology Tutorials. (2) Focuses on specific topics related to cancer predisposition, development, progression, and treatment. Topics include, but are not limited to, DNA damage and repair, damage signaling, cell death response, cell cycle checkpoint control, animal models and cancer treatment. Topics are determined by faculty. The class is a combination of lectures providing background information and student presentations introducing specific topics and related research articles in the field, followed by group discussions. Attendance and at least one full length presentation are mandatory to obtain credit. Staff

CABI 715. Introduction to Radiation Biology. (3) Focuses on the biological changes which follow the interaction of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation with living matter. Emphasis is on the role of ionizing radiation in the treatment of cancer, mechanisms of radiation-induced carcinogenesis, and changes in normal and tumor cells at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. Robbins

CABI 716. Special Topics. Teaching in the Small Group Setting. (2) Teaches students how to use a problem-based interactive approach to facilitate student self-learning. Introduces students to general methods of teaching with a focus on teaching in the small group setting of a literaturebased course. Topics covered include teaching skills for reading scientific papers, oral presentation techniques, and scientific writing. Each student facilitates two weeks (4 class sessions) of the course including in-class participation as well as assisting with the written evaluation portion of the class. Cramer

CABI 717. Advanced Cancer Cell Biology.  This literature-based course covers fundamental cell biology principles related to cancer.  Students select recent papers from the top tier journals in the field (Cell, Cancer Cell, Science, etc.).  Papers are selected that use model organisms and and systems.  These can include Human, mouse, flies, worms. yeast, and fish.  All students are expected to participate in round table discussions of the merits, deficiencies and impact of the work.  Students are evaluated on paper selection, contributions to discussions, and ability to critically evaluate the material.  Cramer