Browse Hierarchy WHR7204: Molecular Pathology of Cancer and Application in Cancer Diagnosis

The module will provide an introduction to the principles of molecular pathology. It will cover basic cancer biology and the role of the tumour microenvironment and how this may be exploited for therapeutic gain. It includes the molecular classification of solid tumors - breast, melanoma and soft tissue tumours- and haematological malignancies, with an emphasis on how this may be applied for disease stratification, prediction and prognosis. Students will learn about the analytical challenges in cancer genomics and in particular issues related to the purity of tumour material as well as the quality (many stored samples are paraffin embedded) and availability of samples which is often a limiting factor. It will introduce the student to the challenges raised by genomic analysis of tumours, and how these may be overcome, and finally the application of cutting-edge technologies for the application of molecular diagnostics in the clinical setting.