Welcome to module 11,
in this module, we're going to discuss cancer.
And you may wonder why would we spend
so much time talking about cancer specifically?
Well, cancer is actually the most common genetic disease,
and we're going to discuss it really from that context,
as well as understanding,
so basically understanding
how genetics plays a role in this.
And by that I don't just mean inheriting a risk
for cancer, that's certainly a part of it,
but also how we develop cancer
by accumulating mutations in our genomes over time
in different cells in our body.
And that is the influence
of the environment around us, our lifestyle,
what we can do to reduce those risks
to developing cancer in the future.
So there are two lectures this week,
and the first one is a pretty long one,
but hopefully, you give me a little slack on that
because cancer is a challenging topic to discuss.
It can be quite complicated.
In fact, many people spend their entire careers focusing
only on trying to understand one teeny tiny piece
of an enormous picture that is cancer biology.
So I condensed it down as much
as I reasonably thought I could
to give you a solid foundation
and understanding in it, fully acknowledging
that you may not practice in oncology at all,
but I can almost guarantee everyone's life has been affected
in one way or another by cancer.
And certainly that will be the case
for probably a good portion of the patients
who come through your door.
And so understanding the molecular mechanisms,
at least from a high level for cancer,
I feel like is a good use of our time.
And again, since it is the most common genetic disease,
it clearly has an important role for this course.
The second lecture is half that time,
so that's good is is about half an hour
and that is focusing on targeted therapeutics.
So taking it the next step,
so the first lecture is really in the fundamentals
of cancer biology, how cancer forms and develops
and then the second lecture is more focusing on some
of these new targeted therapeutics
that are designed at a molecular level
to specifically target cancer cells,
to destroy those cells, to prevent cancer growth
or to assist in the success of a therapeutic,
another therapeutic regimen that goes along with that one.
And talking about why it is
that pharmaceutical companies in particular
are quite interested
in developing these targeted therapeutics
and the potential benefits of them in the long run.
I'm putting in the context of cancer here,
but it can certainly be applied
and would be applied
to other disease states as well
where there potentially is a specific target.
And if you think back
to last week when we're talking about autoimmune conditions,
for example, this may lend itself some of these,
the concepts of targeted therapeutics
may lend themselves well the future
to targeting autoimmune disorders
for more successful treatment there,
so those are the lectures.
There's a chapter in your textbook
that I'm asking you to read as well as an excerpt
from the genetics chapter that I had written,
that's just the excerpt that's related to cancer.
And then I have a quick...
It's sort of like a pamphlet that's in a PDF format
that came out from, I think it was from the not
that's from the Department of Vermont,
State Department of Health.
I'm not exactly sure who put it out,
but it's basically focused on melanoma
in the state of Vermont.
Melanoma is a huge risk to those
who live in the state of Vermont.
We have one of the highest rates of melanoma
and highest rates of death, melanoma of really any state.
And it talks a little bit about why that is
and, you know, it's very re reader friendly approach...
It's just a really a public health bulletin,
so that's there for you to read as it applies to you,
your practice in Vermont and also for you living in Vermont.
And then there's also another PDF
sort of a another pamphlet type of type of thing.
It's was put out by the American Cancer Society
and it's not required reading,
but it, especially if you're really interested in learning
more or if you have have patients in your practice
that have cancer or you yourself are just interested
in reading more about it,
that's a really nice summary document.
It's about 15 pages.
Again, not required for you to read it,
but I think it's a really good resource.
If nothing else, just download it on your computer,
save it for maybe sometime in the future
when you might need it or might wanna reference it again,
so that's there.
And then you have quiz this week
and the assignment this week,
there's actually three parts to it.
The first part is, and it's all in one document,
so you'll open it up
and it'll say part one, part two, part three
and the first part is just some basic questions
around the biology of cancer.
Just a, a refresher
to make sure you're understanding the concepts
from the lectures and the reading.
And the second part is
some quick case study questions
just to try to put it into the context...
Taking the biology,
and put it in the context of practice.
And then the third part I'm asking you to do,
just to make sure we're all getting on track
with doing the final project,
which is actually not that far away,
and as the semester's somehow starting
to come to a close already.
So I wanted to make sure everyone was starting
to think about your final project.
And as such, the third part of the assignment
for this week is really just for you
to write into in the assignment document
which condition or disease you're planning to focus on
for your final project
And it doesn't have to be...
You're not a hundred percent locked into that,
it's just so that I have a sense of
where you might be going with it.
It also gives you a chance to, if you want,
if you have any questions about the final project
to put those in there
and I'll get you feedback on that as well.
You can always email me with questions too,
but this way it gives you, it gives you an assignment
to do this now.
So your mind is at least starting to really think about
what you're going to do for your final project
and making sure that everyone has taken a look
at what the requirements are for this paper
and there's two parts to it, right.
So there's the paper, which is the main part,
then there's also the collection of resources
that you could pull up
and hopefully you've collected some
over the semester anyway, it's just putting it into more
of an organized format where I'm asking you to just include
most likely a list of websites
and other resources
that you think could be helpful potentially
in your practice
or your future practice.
So that's there again,
simply so that when you walk away from this course,
you have something in your hands.
It's not, oh, what was that six months ago
when I was taking that course
with ]that crazy lady who made all those weird videos?
What was that?
What was that website
that I went to that was really helpful.
I only I could remember, oh wait, I don't have to remember
because it's on the list
that I created for my final project, that's the goal.
So if you could assemble that
and so maybe start thinking about that.
Put some together of what you've already found
as being helpful
and it's just gonna be like a bullet point list
of 10 resources that you,
at least 10 you know more if you have more
that are helpful websites
that you've found to be useful
or could be useful for you in the future.
Okay, I think that pretty much wraps it up.
There's the discussion board, of course,
and I look forward, you know,
to talking with you some more about the cancer biology,
targeted therapeutics and anything else
that comes up to mind this week.
So I think with that, I will close out for now
and wish you a happy April.
And yeah, again, as always,
let me know if you have questions on anything
and I will get back to you as soon as I can,
thanks very much, bye-bye.