Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Demystifying Cancer Biology: What cancer actually is and the science behind its 'success': Clarity in Science, #1
    Demystifying Cancer Biology: What cancer actually is and the science behind its 'success': Clarity in Science, #1
    Demystifying Cancer Biology: What cancer actually is and the science behind its 'success': Clarity in Science, #1
    Ebook87 pages48 minutes

    Demystifying Cancer Biology: What cancer actually is and the science behind its 'success': Clarity in Science, #1

    By Mhairi Morris

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Demystifying Cancer Biology is a mini-textbook with a difference – written in clear, easy-to-understand language, this eBook will break down the barriers to understanding the complex world of the cellular and molecular biology of cancer. 

    Cancer biology is a highly specialized subject area that is rife with jargon and acronyms, and it requires a strong foundation in understanding the processes underlying cell growth, division, survival and movement. Demystifying Cancer Biology will help the reader build this foundational knowledge through the use of everyday analogies and metaphors.

    As a lecturer, I structure my cancer biology teaching around Hanahan and Weinberg's classic review article describing the six fundamental hallmarks of cancer (Hanahan and Weinberg, 2000) because it gives students a broad understanding of the science of how cancer cells successfully colonize the host. However, I often found that students struggled to understand it because of the introduction of new terminology and the heavy use of jargon.

    Ever the scientist, I decided to experiment with re-writing elements of this review article as blog posts, illustrating the hallmarks of cancer using everyday analogies and metaphors to help break down their barriers to understanding. By drawing comparisons between the characteristics of cancer cells with concepts students would be familiar with, such as likening the growth of cancer cells with the process of making pizza, students were able to grasp the basic concept in advance of the lecture and more readily keep up during the lectures.

    The feedback I received from my students was fantastic and so I have extended this series of blog posts and brought them together into an edited eBook, available for free to anyone with an interest in learning more about the biology of cancer. 

    As a writer, I am passionate about communicating science clearly. As a researcher, I love to inspire and engage my students in learning more about what cancer is and how we can find ways to prevent its spread – the major cause of cancer-related deaths. As an educator, I believe in providing a variety of learning tools to make learning accessible to all. So, I have decided to record an audio version of this mini-textbook, which readers can access by following the link inside the book.

    From students in the biological sciences through to cancer healthcare professionals, Demystifying Cancer Biology is an ideal beginner's guide that will break down the barriers to understanding the complexities surrounding cancer biology and the science behind its 'success'.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMhairi Morris
    Release dateMay 24, 2018
    ISBN9781540173942
    Demystifying Cancer Biology: What cancer actually is and the science behind its 'success': Clarity in Science, #1

    Related to Demystifying Cancer Biology

    Titles in the series (1)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Medical For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      What Defines a Stem Cell?

      Dec 27, 2018

      For the past three years, researchers at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands have been painstakingly cataloging and mapping all the proliferating cells found in mouse hearts, looking for cardiac stem cells. The elusive cells should theoreticall

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Promise Of Stem Cells

      Mar 15, 2022

      The Promise Of Stem Cells
      7 min read

    • Article

      Physics Makes Aging Inevitable, Not Biology: Nanoscale thermal physics guarantees our decline, no matter how many diseases we cure.

      May 12, 2016

      The inside of every cell in our body is like a crowded city, filled with tracks, transports, libraries, factories, power plants, and garbage disposal units. The city’s workers are protein machines, which metabolize food, take out the garbage, or repa

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Rise of Cancer Immunotherapy

      Oct 25, 2018

      Every time Jim meets a patient, he cries,” Padmanee said to The New York Times in 2016. “Well not every time,” Jim added. Jim Allison and Padmanee Sharma work together at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, having met in 2005 and married

      16 min read

    • Article

      New Study In Mice Points To Why Melanoma Spreads — And Perhaps How To Prevent Metastasis

      Dec 18, 2019

      Why some melanomas turn fatally metastatic and others sit still has always been a black box. New research, however, offers a peek inside.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Inside Intensive Care

      Jul 9, 2020

      Inside Intensive Care
      3 min read

    • Article

      Crowdscience

      Apr 8, 2020

      We’ve joined forces with the team behind BBC World Service’s CrowdScienceto answer your questions on one specific topic. You can tune into CrowdScienceevery Friday evening on BBC World Service, or catch up online at www.bbcworldservice.com/crowdscien

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Man Who Would Tame Cancer: Patrick Soon-Shiong is opening a new front in the war on the deadly disease.

      Jan 28, 2016

      Patrick Soon-Shiong wants to turn cancer treatment upside down. On January 12, Soon-Shiong and a consortium of industry, government, and academia announced the launch of the Cancer MoonShot 2020, an ambitious program aiming to replace a long history

      9 min read

    • Article

      “I Reversed My Stage-4 Cancer”

      Jan 24, 2020

      I am 28 years out from a stage-four ovarian cancer diagnosis. It was missed, over and over, until it was frankly too late and had completely ravaged my body. So, my journey has been one of attending the ‘Save Your Ass University’! It made me so passi

      9 min read

    • Article

      What REALLY Causes Cancer?

      Sep 28, 2022

      What REALLY Causes Cancer?
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Cancer Custodians

      Jun 23, 2021

      Part of Dennis Plenker’s daily job is growing cancer. And a variety of different ones, too. Depending on the day and the project, different tumors may burgeon in the petri dishes stocked in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where Plenker works as a r

      11 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: What My Kidney Cancer Is Teaching Me About Serendipity And Persistence

      Dec 19, 2018

      It takes a certain tragic serendipity for cancer to exist, but its persistence is what makes it blossom into a life-threatening illness. Cancer survivors also benefit from serendipity and persistence.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Healing The Whole Person

      Jul 24, 2022

      The UK National Health Service reports that one in two people in the UK will develop cancer at some time in their lives. This is a stark and rather frightening statistic, not only because cancer is a leading cause of death but also because the usual

      7 min read

    • Article

      Have Your Say

      Jul 26, 2020

      Every issue of WDDTY contains an amazing amount of useful health information, so it would be good if more of us readers could share this around. After I’ve read it, I always lend my copy to a friend, and I tell others by email about some of the usefu

      3 min read

    • Article

      Can Cancer Be Cured?

      Jan 31, 2024

      Cancer is an ancient disease; tumours have been found in Egyptian mummies, and even in the fossils of dinosaurs. It happens when genes involved in growth and repair go wrong. Affected cells make copy upon copy of themselves, and these new cells start

      2 min read

    • Article

      Ryan Prior

      Dec 16, 2022

      Q _ As a teen, you suffered through a debilitating “invisible” illness that eluded diagnosis for months. What is the most validating thing a doctor can do for a patient in that situation? A _Three simple words, “I believe you.” As Sir William Osler,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Ryan Prior

      Dec 16, 2022

      Q _ As a teen, you suffered through a debilitating “invisible” illness that eluded diagnosis for months. What is the most validating thing a doctor can do for a patient in that situation? A _Three simple words, “I believe you.” As Sir William Osler,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee

      Oct 29, 2022

      Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee
      2 min read

    • Article

      Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee

      Oct 28, 2022

      Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee
      2 min read

    • Article

      Out Of The Stone Age

      Feb 9, 2020

      Even if she hadn’t lost her husband to cancer, oncologist Azra Raza would have been the kind of doctor who feels strongly about her patients. She sees them on diagnosis, knowing how changed they are going to be by the treatments they will have, and i

      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Demystifying Cancer Biology

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Demystifying Cancer Biology - Mhairi Morris

      ––––––––

      Demystifying Cancer Biology:

      What cancer actually is and the science behind its ‘success’

      ––––––––

      A ‘Clarity in Science’ series

      Published by Essential Cancer Education

      www.essentialcancereducation.com

      © 2018 Dr Mhairi A Morris

      ––––––––

      The right of Dr Mhairi A Morris to be identified as the author of the Work has been asserted her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without permission from the author, except as permitted by copyright law.

      ––––––––

      FREE GUIDE

      Get your FREE guide: the incredibly simple 3-step system to help your patients live well with cancer

      https://www.essentialcancereducation.com/3steps/

      ––––––––

      Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.

      — Richard Feynman

      ––––––––

      This book is dedicated to my past and present students who love cancer biology as much as I do and have a real thirst to learn more. May you continue your ‘undisciplined, irreverent and original studying’ for all your days to come. 🤓

      Hi! I’m Dr Mhairi Morris (pronounced Vari) and I’m a Biochemistry lecturer and cancer researcher at a UK university. I love teaching – I’m a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and I was also awarded local Teacher Fellow status at my previous institution. As an academic, though, I have a particularly large bee in my bonnet about clear communication in science education. I’m not your typical academic, you see, and I’m not afraid to admit that I too get bored when reading some textbooks or journal articles. Sometimes they can be so stuffy!

      A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure and honor of working with a group of teenage and young adult cancer patients as part of a research project that I’m involved with. We were exploring the use of personalized 3D printed models of patients’ tumors in helping them come to terms with their diagnosis. It was during this time in my life that I began to explore the idea of communicating cancer clearly and I set up a blog to support my teaching practice at the time, which went down a storm with my students! Since then, I’ve become passionate about explaining complex cancer science in easy-to-understand, accessible language.

      Why I chose to write this particular book:

      The field of cancer biology is a highly specialized subject area that is rife with jargon and acronyms, and it requires a strong foundation in understanding the processes underlying cell growth, division, survival and movement.

      In their seminal paper in 2000, Hanahan and Weinberg[1]⁠¹ described six fundamental hallmarks of cancer in a review of the literature at that time. At only 13 pages in length, it is a relatively short review, and it would take the average academic in the field less than an hour to fully digest. But then, as I’ve already alluded to, I’m not your average academic!

      I included this article as an essential recommended text for my cancer biology lectures, and I expected my students to familiarize themselves with the content. However, I found they weren’t reading it! Their feedback to me suggested that the introduction of new terminology and the heavy use of jargon rendered the paper considerably inaccessible to the average student.

      So, knowing that the use of imagery, stories and metaphors are powerful learning tools, I decided to experiment with blogging. I laid out the key information to support the lectures by illustrating the hallmarks of cancer using everyday analogies and metaphors to draw comparisons between the behaviors and characteristics of cancer cells with concepts students would be familiar with. So for example, by likening the growth of cancer cells with the process of making pizza.

      The feedback I received from my students was fantastic, and so I decided to bring this series of blog posts together into an edited eBook, available for free to anyone and everyone with an interest in learning

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1