Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics

Catalog description

This course explores how genetic and epigenetic mechanisms shape cancer development, progression, and therapeutic response. Students will examine somatic and germline mutations, chromosomal rearrangements, and regulatory variants that drive oncogenic transcriptional programs, as well as epigenetic alterations such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and chromatin reorganization. Through a modular framework spanning cancer genomics, epigenetics, and systems biology, the course integrates insights from molecular biology, metabolism, evolution, and the tumor microenvironment. Lectures, guest presentations, and problem-based exercises emphasize the experimental and computational tools that define modern cancer research and precision medicine.