Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe how cancer is caused by uncontrolled cell growthUnderstand how proto-oncogenes are normal cell genes that, when mutated, become oncogenesDescribe how tumor suppressors functionExplain how mutant tumor suppressors cause cancer

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Cancer involves uncontrolled cell growth, resistance to cell death, failure to differentiate into a particular cell type, and increased cellular motility. A family of gate-keeper genes, known as tumor suppressor genes, plays important roles in preventing the initiation and progression of cancer. Among these, p53 is the most famous. Because of its essential role in maintaining genomic integrity, p53 is often called the guardian of the genome. During this course, we will study how p53 serves as a pivotal tumor suppressor gene in preventing cancer.This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.