CUNY York College Cancer Is in Essence a Genetic Disease Discussion

Exercise – Note-taking and Study Skills – Cancer Seminar Assignment

2003 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Holiday Series

Cancer Lecture by Dr. Bert Vogelstein

http://media.hhmi.org/hl/03Lect1.html?_ga=2.174012259.1576159575.1498836437-1298016570.1497734722

This assignment emphasizes both learning biological content and study skills.

You may have to screen the assigned lecture twice: the first time to get the broad outline, shape, structure – the topic, speaker, audience, context, and breakdown of how the subject is treated; the second time, to write detailed lecture notes, perhaps in the form of questions and answers. This is equivalent to attending a course lecture, then later reviewing the PowerPoint presentation or replaying the recording of the lecture.

To help apply these study skills and perform a medium stakes assignment, read the following questions written by the instructor in chronological order during a second viewing of the video. Then screen the video yourself and write careful lecture notes in whatever format you prefer.

The assignment, worth 5 points, is to answer any five of the below 21 questions, write and answer your own five questions, or a combination of the above. When answering, put down the time in the video (min;sec) when Dr. Vogelstein addressed the topic.

1.Where and when was the seminar presented? By whom? Who introduced the speaker, Who was in the audience?

2.Define ‘Translational Research’.

3.Explain ‘Cancer is in essence a genetic disease’.

4.Why was it hard to effectively treat Melissa, Dr. Vogelstein’s first pediatric cancer patient?

5.What makes a malignant tumor different from a benign tumor?

6.How would a colon cancer metastasize to the liver?

7.Why should women have regular mammograms?

8.What do all cancer cells have in common?

9.How is ‘compound interest’ a useful model for cancer?

10.Are cancers that metastasize from one tissue type specific to the next type of tissue invaded?

11.Why is chemotherapy toxic to normal cells?

12.What type of genetic change most often causes cancer?

13.Describe ‘waves of clonal expansion’.

14.What is the difference between germ cell and somatic cell mutations?

15.What are the three kinds of gene mutations that contribute to cancer (the ‘accelerator’, the ‘brake’ and the ‘auto mechanic’).

16.Define familial cancers and give their approximate percentage.

17.List and describe a series of mutations that lead to colon cancer.

18.Are p53 mutations rare or common in cancer cells?

19.Do specific p53 mutations correlate with particular cancers?

20.What are the downstream genes regulated by p53 and what do their gene products do?

21.What cancer arises from the 9/22 chromosomal translocation?