Learning objectives

Referring to knowledge — Assimilate the basic concepts in translational medical research, such as personalised medicine, oncogene addiction, gene signatures, genetic mutations, epigenetic aberrations and oncogenesis. — Acquire knowledge in complex genomic technologies, such as microarray profiling, genome sequencing and methylation profiling. — Understand the methodological basis of genomic analysis and the role of bioinformatics in data mining. — Develop the skills to find and interpret genomic information in public databases. — Acquire knowledge of complex proteomics-based technologies. — Study models of translational research in oncology and their impact on handling patients (“from bench to bedside”). — Acquire skills for the understanding of the rationale behind clinical trials of molecular therapies in oncology. — Get trained in how to analyze bibliographic studies. — Develop skills in communication of scientific knowledge. — Identify the requirements and qualities needed to develop careers in science. — Gain knowledge of the most important pre-clinical and clinical findings that have occurred in oncology and other pathologies. — Understand the design of clinical trials based on biomarkers: enrichment trials. — Understand cancer treatments based on scientific evidences.

 

 

Teaching blocks

 

1. Basic principles

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— Molecular pathology in oncology
— Role of epigenetics in human diseases
— Personalised medicine in oncology
— Immunology and cancer
— Gene therapy and virotherapy
— Oncogenic signalling pathways
— Bioinformatics, bases of genomic studies
— Basic principles of experimental models

2. High-throughput technology

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— Principles of sequencing technologies and achievements
— Identification of novel drivers in oncology
— Microarrays
— SNP array and CNVs
— Exome sequencing
— Single-cell genomics
— Proteomics

3. Genomics in cancer

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— Melanoma
— Breast cancer
— Hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer 
— Digestive cancer
— Pediatric cancer

4. Trial design and innovation

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— Design of clinical trials in the genomic era
— Statistical principles for clinical trials
— Trial design and innovation (from bench to spin off)

5. Seminars

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— Cancer
— Drugs and mechanisms of resistance
— Trial design and innovation

 

 

Teaching methods and general organization

 

Lectures: Lectures will be in English; and students will be encouraged to actively contribute and participate in them. The presentations shown in each class will be posted on the UB-Campus-Virtual. Thus, students will have the opportunity to prepare the topics before each class. All documents provided during the lectures will help the students to understand and integrate the presented concepts. Practical Sessions: Seminars will be held to discuss scientific articles and translational medicine concepts. Students will analyze and discuss scientific articles under the supervision of the professors. The articles to be discussed will be uploaded in the UB-Campus-Virtual so that students can prepare the classes in advance. Seminars will be interactive, requiring the students to discuss the ideas and results presented in the selected articles. Since the subject is taught in both the Faculty of Biology and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, both faculties have agreed on the possibility that some activities have a different hour load to adapt to the teaching calendar of each center. Additionally, activities may have different nomenclature (while maintaining the type of activity) to adapt to the infrastructures of each center. The coordinators of the subjects of each campus work to ensure the achievement of the competences and the objectives outlined in the teaching plan. To the extent possible, a gender perspective will be incorporated into the development and activities of the subject.

 

 

Official assessment of learning outcomes

 

Evaluation criteria: 50% of the final score will depend on the attendance and active participation. The remaining 50% will be obtained through a written exam. The written exam will consist of a multiple-choice test.  To pass the subject, students will have to fulfill three requisites:  a)    Attendance-score ≥ 20/50,  b)    exam-score ≥20/50,  c)     and overall score (attendance + exam) ≥ 50/100. Attendance will be evaluated as follows:  95% - 100% -> 50 points 80% - 94% -> 40 points 60% - 79% -> 30 points 40% - 59% -> 20 points < 40% -> Subject Failure Re-evaluation: In case of failing the ordinary evaluation (overall-score ≥50/100), students who have answered correctly 1/3 of the exam questions will have the chance to be re-evaluated. For this purpose, they will need to present a critical appraisal of 3 scientific articles in front of an evaluation committee. The re-evaluation final score will never exceed 50 points.

Reading and study resources

Check availability in Cercabib

Book

Handbook of Translational Medicine. ISBN 978-84-475-4030-3
Author: Josep M Llovet.

Translational Medicine: The Future of Therapy? ISBN 978-98-143-1699-6
Authors: James Mittra and Christopher-Paul Milne
 

Genomic and Personalized Medicine. ISBN 978-01-238-2227-7
Authors: Geoffrey S. Ginsburg and Huntington F Willard PhD

Translational Medicine and Drug Discovery. ISBN 978-05-218-8645-1
Authors: Bruce H. Littman MD and Rajesh Krishna PhD FCP

Article

Albani S, Prakken B. The advancement of translational medicine-from regional challenges to global solutions. Nat Med. 2009;15:1006-9.

Berger B, Peng J, Singh M. Computational solutions for omics data. Nat Rev Genet. 2013;14:333-46

de Visser KE, Joyce JA. The evolving tumor microenvironment: From cancer initiation to metastatic outgrowth. Cancer Cell. 2023;41:374-403

Díaz-Gay M, Alexandrov LB. Unraveling the genomic landscape of colorectal cancer through mutational signatures. Adv Cancer Res. 2021

Garraway LA, Lander ES. Lessons from the cancer genome. Cell. 2013;153:17-37

Gerstberger S, Jiang Q, Ganesh K. Metastasis. Cell. 2023;186:1564-1579.

Hanahan D, Weinberg RA. Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation. Cell. 2011;144:646-74.

Hanahan D. Hallmarks of Cancer: New Dimensions. Cancer Discov. 2022;12:31-46
 

Koh, G., Degasperi, A., Zou, X. et al. Mutational signatures: emerging concepts, caveats and clinical applications. Nat Rev Cancer (2021)

Llovet JM et al., Hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Rev Dis Primers 2021

Llovet JM et al., Immunotherapies for hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2021

McGranahan N, Swanton C. Biological and therapeutic impact of intratumor heterogeneity in cancer evolution. Cancer Cell. 2015;27:15-26

Rezza A, Sennett R, Rendl M. et al. Adult stem cell niches: cellular and molecular components. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2014;107:333-72

Sharma et al., Immune checkpoint therapy-current perspectives and future directions. Cell. 2023;186:1652-1669

Stratton MR, Campbell PJ, Futreal PA. The cancer genome. Nature. 2009

Vogelstein B, Papadopoulos N, Velculescu VE, Zhou S, Diaz LA Jr, Kinzler KW. Cancer genome landscapes. Science. 2013;339:1546-58.

Wan L, Pantel K, Kang Y. Tumor metastasis: moving new biological insights into the clinic. Nat Med. 2013;19:1450-64.

Zucman-Rossi J, Villanueva A, Nault JC, Llovet JM. Genetic Landscape and Biomarkers of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Gastroenterology. 2015;149:1226-1239.