Human Genetics and Oncobiology

Code: CMS15076M

6 ECTS

Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours

Scientific Area: Health Sciences

Teaching languages: Portuguese

Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese, English

Regime de Frequência: Presencial

Sustainable Development Goals

Saúde de qualidade - Assegurar uma vida saudável e promover o bem-estar para todos, em todas as idades.

Educação de qualidade - Assegurar a educação inclusiva, e equitativa e de qualidade, e promover oportunidades de aprendizagem ao longo da vida para todos.

Learning Goals

The aim of this course is to study the genetic and genomic bases of cancer, the basics of genetic alterations that lead to the development of tumors and the classes of genes involved in this development.
At the end of the course, students should understand the main mechanisms of carcinogenesis and tumor progression; be able to identify the most frequent syndromes of hereditary predisposition to cancer and know examples of therapeutics directed at molecular targets.
The aim is also to enable students to understand, discuss and critically analyze scientific articles in their area of expertise, as well as to develop oral and written communication skills and group work.

Human Genetics: Definition of cancer. Epidemiology of cancer. Cellular hallmarks of cancer. Chromosomal rearrangements in cancers. DNA repair. Genetic susceptibility to cancer; epigenetics of cancer. Oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Molecular subclassification of breast cancer and its prognostic and therapeutic value. Mutations in genes involved in cell signaling and therapeutic implications in colorectal cancer and melanoma.
Molecular classification and targeted therapy in lung cancer. Investigation into the pathogenetic mechanisms of prostate and kidney cancer. Hereditary cancer syndromes; circulating tumor DNA. Advances in translational cancer genomics; modern genomic analysis techniques (microarrays, massive parallel sequencing, RNAi technology).

Teaching Methods

The teaching of this course is based on lectures, during which the lecturer exposes the nuclear concepts of each topic, explaining and discussing all the points in the syllabus, and theoretical-practical lectures discussing articles. The laboratory classes will allow the application of Problem Based Learning (PBL) methodology, which will give students the opportunity to identify real problems and act actively and collaboratively in search of solutions in the area of Human Genetics and Oncobiology.

Assessment

The theoretical evaluation is worth 70% and can be done continuously in 2 assessment components, each with 50% weight in the final theoretical grade. Alternatively, a final exam (theoretical and written) can be taken, covering all the contents of the course with a single test.
The theoretical-practical assessment is worth 20% and is carried out through the oral presentation of a group assignment (10%). The LP assessment is worth 10%.
The final grade (NF) (whether continuous assessment or final assessment) results from the weighting of the T, TP and PL assessments. NF= T*0.7+TP*0.2+LP*0.1.