UnitLevel 5Postgraduate

BMS5012 Cancer biology and therapeutics

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

BMS5012 Cancer biology and therapeutics is a level 5, 6-credit-point, postgraduate unit from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, offered in 2020 in Semester 1 at Clayton. It has no prerequisites.

Credit points
6
Offered in 2020
Semester 1
Clayton

This is the 2020 handbook entry. See the 2027 entry.

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Requisites

Before BMS5012

Prerequisites

Pass these before you enrol.

After BMS5012

No unit lists BMS5012 as a prerequisite in the 2020 handbook.

Enrolment rules

Pre-requisite: Enrolment in M6003 or M6030.

Overview

The aim of this unit is to introduce and develop students' understanding of cancer biology, including the molecular mechanisms underpinning human cancers and targeted therapeutics used to treat patients with this disease.

Three main themes will be presented:

i) Major hallmarks of cancer (including immunology, metabolism, and cell biology),

ii) Genomic features of cancer (including tumour suppressors and oncogenes, molecular subtypes spanning genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic features),

iii) Targeted therapies in human cancer including personalised medicine.

Topics within these major themes will cover both basic research and clinical aspects.

The practical component of this unit will present students with the opportunity to interact with leading researchers in the cancer biology field, explore the important scientific and clinical issues associated with cancer research, extend their knowledge of the scientific literature, and increase their knowledge of translational research, involving clinical application of scientific discoveries. This unit will provide the high-level knowledge base and understanding required to generate cutting-edge research questions and undertake enquiry directed to answering that research question.

Offerings in 2020

Teaching periodCampusMode
First semesterClaytonOn campus

Learning outcomes

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

  1. 1

    Identify, evaluate and effectively communicate key concepts and results and their implications from high impact recent publications in the field of cancer biology and translational cancer research;

  2. 2

    Analyse, interpret and present data from a range of experiment types and discuss this in the context of current scientific literature.

  3. 3

    Review and critique scientific literature relevant to a specified scientific question to formulate a scientific hypothesis to underpin a research project in the field of cancer biology;

  4. 4

    Evaluate and integrate current knowledge on the genetic drivers of cancer to design trials to assess new cancer therapeutics;

  5. 5

    Review, evaluate and justify appropriate approaches for clinical trial design based on preclinical evidence.

Workload and teaching

Average: 4 staff-student contact hours + 2 hours directed learning per week on-campus. This covers 1 hour lecture, 3 hours workshop/practical time,2 hours small-group directed learning activities plus 6 hours of self-directed learning per week.

Contacts

Chief Examiners
Associate Professor Renea Taylor
Unit Coordinators
Associate Professor Renea Taylor

Common questions

What are the prerequisites for BMS5012?

BMS5012 has no prerequisites, but enrolment rules apply.

When is BMS5012 offered?

In 2020, BMS5012 runs in Semester 1 at Clayton.

More details

Credit points
6
Level
5
Study level
Postgraduate
Faculty
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational unit
School of Biomedical Sciences
Type
Coursework
EFTSL
0.125
Student contribution
SCA Band 3
Study abroad
Not available