This course focuses on how cancer is diagnosed and treated, emphasizing the problems that arise when treating cancers as an organ-based, rather than cell-based disease. We will discuss the current diagnostic techniques and treatments and their strengths and limitations, and look forward to how breakthroughs in DNA sequencing technology can provide us with new information to design more specific cancer drugs for better treatments in the future. After seeing the more conventional ways to treat cancer, we will take a critical look at alternative cancer therapies, and spend some time discussing how, and why, cancer occupies such a prominent place in our society and how our understanding of cancer shapes public policy for the future.
Pre-requisites: Basic knowledge of cell biology and genetics recommended.