Students explore Hooke's law while working in small groups at their lab benches. They collect displacement data for springs with unknown spring constants, k, by adding various masses of known weight. After exploring Hooke's law and answering a series of application questions, students apply their new understanding to explore a tissue of known surface area. Students then use the necessary relationships to depict a cancerous tumor amidst normal tissue by creating a graph in Microsoft Excel.

This course illustrates how knowledge and principles of biology, biochemistry, and engineering are integrated to create new products for societal benefit. It uses a case study format to examine recently developed products of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries: how a product evolves from initial idea, through patents, testing, evaluation, production, and marketing. Emphasizes scientific and engineering principles; the responsibility scientists, engineers, and business executives have for the consequences of their technology; and instruction and practice in written and oral communication. The topic focus of this class will vary from year to year. This version looks at inflammation underlying many diseases, specifically its role in cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

This 13-minute video lecture provides an introduction to what cancer is and how it is the by-product of broken DNA replication. [Biology playlist: Lesson 13 of 71].

This course will cover the origins of cancer and the genetic and cellular basis for cancer. It will examine the factors that have been implicated in triggering cancers; the intercellular interactions involved in cancer proliferation; current treatments for cancer and how these are designed; and future research and treatment directions for cancer therapy. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: explain how the perception of cancer and theories of its causes have changed throughout history because of important discoveries made by scientists, researchers, and physicians; summarize the importance of understanding cell biology in the study of cancer, its causes, it progression, and its treatment; outline the transcription and translation processes used to convert DNA into proteins and what changes occur that convert proto-oncogenes into oncogenes and lead to unchecked cell growth and cancer; compare and contrast the mechanisms by which activation of oncogenes, loss of tumor suppressors, loss of cell cycle checkpoints, and development of faulty DNA repair lead to cancer; describe the various cancer prevention mechanisms including risk assessment, screening, and lifestyle and environmental modification; list the past, current, and future cancer treatments and the mechanism by which these target cancer causing cells. (Biology 404)

Seminar covering topics of current interest in biology. Includes reading and analysis of research papers and student presentations. Contact Biology Education Office for topics. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. In 1971, President Nixon declared the "War on Cancer," but after three decades the war is still raging. How much progress have we made toward winning the war and what are we doing to improve the fight? Understanding the molecular and cellular events involved in tumor formation, progression, and metastasis is crucial to the development of innovative therapy for cancer patients. Insights into these processes have been gleaned through basic research using biochemical, molecular, and genetic analyses in yeast, C. elegans, mice, and cell culture models. We will explore the laboratory tools and techniques used to perform cancer research, major discoveries in cancer biology, and the medical implications of these breakthroughs. A focus of the class will be critical analysis of the primary literature to foster understanding of the strengths and limitations of various approaches to cancer research. Special attention will be made to the clinical implications of cancer research performed in model organisms and the prospects for ending the battle with this devastating disease.

In this course we will explore the new emerging field of pathogen-induced chronic diseases. Work in this field has redefined the causes of some major disorders, such as ulcers. By reading the primary research literature we will learn about the molecular mechanisms through which pathogens cause disease. The diseases that we cover will be introduced with a short patient case study. We will discuss the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and gastric disease, HPV and cervical cancer, hepatitis C virus and liver disease, Epstein-Barr virus and lymphoma, Cytomegalovirus and atherosclerosis, as well as diabetes and multiple sclerosis. We will study technical advances in the fight against microbes and explore future directions for new treatment strategies of chronic infections and inflammation. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.

In this lesson, students continue their education on cells in the human body. They discuss stem cells and how engineers are involved in the research of stem cell behavior. They learn about possible applications of stem cell research and associated technologies, such as fluorescent dyes for tracking the replication of specific cells.

Cellular responses to DNA damage constitute one of the most important fields in cancer biology. In this class we will analyze classical and recent papers from the primary research literature to gain a profound understand of cell cycle regulation and DNA damage checkpoints that act as powerful emergency brakes to prevent cancer. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.

Students are introduced to the unit challenge: To develop a painless means of identifying cancerous tumors. Solving the challenge depends on an understanding of the properties of stress and strain. After learning the challenge question, students generate ideas and consider the knowledge required to solve the challenge. Then they read an expert's opinion on ultrasound imaging and the potentials for detecting cancerous tumors. This interview helps to direct student research and learning towards finding a solution.

“A Family in Need” was designed as an in-class problem-based learning activity for students to learn about several innovative medical applications of molecular biology. Students assume the role of a second-year medical student assigned to work with a pediatric oncologist who has just biopsied a tumor-like growth in the adrenal gland of her 17-year-old patient, Lee F. After taking Lee’s family history and performing a pedigree analysis, students review clinical and genetic characteristics of several syndromes associated with adrenal cancer. Students then explore various diagnostic and biomedical research techniques such as PCR, DNA sequencing, and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. The case concludes with a consideration of how to treat Lee’s condition with the help of gene cloning and the potential of gene therapy. Although originally written for an upper-level college genetics course, the case could also be adapted for an introductory molecular/cellular biology course, a non-majors biology course, or a professional school medical genetics course.

" During development, the genetic content of each cell remains, with a few exceptions, identical to that of the zygote. Most differentiated cells therefore retain all of the genetic information necessary to generate an entire organism. It was through pioneering technology of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) that this concept was experimentally proven. Only 10 years ago the sheep Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult organism, demonstrating that the differentiated state of a mammalian cell can be fully reversible to a pluripotent embryonic state. A key conclusion from these experiments was that the difference between pluripotent cells such as embryonic stem (ES) cells and unipotent differentiated cells is solely a consequence of reversible changes. These changes, which have proved to involve reversible alterations to both DNA and to proteins that bind DNA, are known as epigenetic, to distinguish them from genetic alterations to DNA sequence. In this course we will explore such epigenetic changes and study different approaches that can return a differentiated cell to an embryonic state in a process referred to as epigenetic reprogramming, which will ultimately allow generation of patient-specific stem cells and application to regenerative therapy. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching."

The course covers basic concepts of biomedical engineering and their connection with the spectrum of human activity. It serves as an introduction to the fundamental science and engineering on which biomedical engineering is based. Case studies of drugs and medical products illustrate the product development-product testing cycle, patent protection, and FDA approval. It is designed for science and non-science majors.

Lectures by current practitioners of cancer prevention control in clinical oncology cover the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention/screening measures used for cancers such as lung, breast, prostate, colon/rectal, etc.

Student teams learn about engineering design of green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) and their use in medical research, including stem cell research. They simulate the use of GFPs by adding fluorescent dye to water and letting a flower or plant to transport the dye throughout its structure. Students apply their knowledge of GFPs to engineering applications in the medical, environmental and space exploration fields. Due to the fluorescing nature of the dye, plant life of any color, light or dark, can be used unlike dyes that can only be seen in visible light.

Cancer usually begins with one tumor in a specific area of the body. But if the tumor is not removed, cancer has the ability to spread to nearby organs as well as places far away from the origin, like the brain. How does cancer move to these new areas and why are some organs more likely to get infected than others? Ivan Seah Yu Jun explains the three common routes of metastasis.

Interview with Professor Mark Chaplain (Dundee) on the applications of mathematics to biomedical problems. Interview at "Meet the Mathematicians" event 2011....

During this activity, students will be introduced to the concepts of the challenge. They will generate ideas for solving the grand challenge first independently, then in small groups. Finally, as a class, students will compile their ideas with a visual as a learning supplement.

This course presents a unique and challenging perspective on the causes of human disease and mortality. The course focuses on analyses of major causes of mortality in the US since 1900: cancer cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases. Students create analytical models to derive estimates for historically variant population risk factors and physiological rate parameters, and conduct analyses of familial data to separately estimate inherited and environmental risks. The course evaluates the basic population genetics of dominant, recessive and non-deleterious inherited risk factors.

" This course provides a foundation for understanding the relationship between molecular biology, developmental biology, genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, and medicine. It develops explicit connections between basic research, medical understanding, and the perspective of patients. Principles of human genetics are reviewed. We translate clinical understanding into analysis at the level of the gene, chromosome and molecule; we cover the concepts and techniques of molecular biology and genomics, and the strategies and methods of genetic analysis, including an introduction to bioinformatics. Material in the course extends beyond basic principles to current research activity in human genetics."

This courses focuses on the fundamentals of tissue and organ response to injury from a molecular and cellular perspective. There is a special emphasis on disease states that bridge infection, inflammation, immunity, and cancer. The systems approach to pathophysiology includes lectures, critical evaluation of recent scientific papers, and student projects and presentations. This term, we focus on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), chronic-active hepatitis, and hepatitis virus infections. In addition to lectures, students work in teams to critically evaluate and present primary scientific papers.