- Course Number & Title BE445 Engineering and Biological Principles in Cancer
- Credit Units 1 CU (3 semester hours)
- Class/Laboratory Schedule Lecture: 3 hrs/week
- Instructor Ravi Radhakrishnan, PhD, Associate Professor of Bioengineering
- Prerequisites Undergraduates Require Senior Standing or Permission of the Instructor
- Course Satisfies
[ ] Math
[ ] Science
[ x ] Engineering
[ ] Technical Elective
[ ] TBS
- Text(s)/Required Materials
- Cancer Systems Biology, Edited by Edwin Wang CRC Press; ISBN: 978-1-4398-1185-6 (Recommended)
- The Biological Basis of Cancer, 2nd Edn, Mckinnell et al., Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 0-521-60633-0 (Recommended)
- Multiscale Cancer Modeling, Edited by T. S. Deisboeck and G. Stamatakos, CRC Press; ISBN: 978-1-4398-1440-6 (Recommended)
This course provides an integrative framework and provides a quantitative foundation for understanding molecular and cellular mechanisms in cancer. The topics are divided into three classes: (1) the biological basis of cancer; (2) cancer systems biology; and (3) multiscale cancer modeling. Emphasis is placed on quantitative models and paradigms and on integrating bioengineering principles with cancer biology.
- The biological basis of cancer: pathology of cancer; invasion and metastasis; carcinogenesis; oncology; cancer associated genes; cancer stem cell
- Cancer systems biology: network biology and gene expression profiles; cancer progression in protein interaction networks; tumor genome sequencing to cancer signaling maps; cancer metabolism; networks impacting and defining the tumor microenvironment
- Multiscale cancer modeling: evolutionary principles in cancer; catastrophe theory in cancer genomics; continuum and stochastic models for cancer progression and tumor microenvironment; physical models for angiogenesis and metastasis; insilico oncology
- Course Objectives and Relationship to Program Education Objectives
The goal of this course is to develop a unifying set of principles in molecular and cellular engineering applicable to cancer biology. The knowledge in biomedical science and training in engineering principles imparted through this course will enable students to understanding emerging paradigms in cancer biology and oncology that are more and more reliant on molecular concepts and network biology. The objectives include:
- understanding the biological concepts of cancer
- underlying technologies and tools of systems biology and their applicability in cancer
- understanding physical and engineering models and their applicability to mechanisms in cancer
- understanding the role of insilico oncology in the personalized medicine approach to cancer therapy
- Week 1 Biological basis of cancer: cancer pathology
- Week 2 Invasion and metastasis
- Week 3 carcinogenisis and oncology
- Week 4 cancer associated genes and cancer stem cells
- Week 5 Cancer systems Biology: Network biology and gene expression
- Week 6 cancer progression in protein interaction networks; tumor genome sequencing to cancer signaling maps
- Week 7 cancer metabolism
- Week 8 networks impacting and defining the tumor microenvironment
- Week 9 Multiscale cancer modeling: evolutionary principles in cancer; catastrophe theory in cancer genomics;
- Week 10 continuum and stochastic models for cancer progression and tumor microenvironment
- Week 11 physical models for angiogenesis and metastasis
- Week 12 insilico oncology
- Week 13 Special topics: heterogeneity in tumor
- Week 14 Special topics: tumor-immune system interaction
50% Homework, Quiz, and In-class Presentations, 50% Final Exam
- Prepared By/Date Ravi Radhakrishnan / August, 2011
