Wahlfach „Cancer Biology“

Cancer cells hijack physiological processes and are characterized by a unique biology that  is currently not captured in the available curricula. This is contrasted by a growing demand to understand these aspects for treating physicians as personalized treatments pave their way to the clinic. To this end, a sound understanding of the molecular aspects of a tumor cells are essential. This seminar series will allow interested students to learn in a small seminar group on a weekly basis with their peers about all aspects of cancer biology. Interested students in their early clinical semester will systematically learn about the pathophysiology of tumor cells. Each student will be asked to present one topic to their peers, followed by a lively discussion. All students have a mandatory reading assignment of a paper or chapter related to the topic. We will speak about viral and genetic causes of cancer, define the concept of oncogenes and tumor suppressors, cover all hallmarks of cancers, learn about derailed apoptosis, cell cycle, growth factors, signaling cascades, tumor microenvironment interactions and touch novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in the field, including immunotherapy, liquid biopsy, CAR-T-cells, next generation-based genomics and epigenomics.