Smoking, Sex, and a Tan: Not So Cool After All with Rebecca Roberts

This class is beginner level biology for non-scientists! It will introduce alumni participants to the basic biology of cancer and how life-style choices can affect cancer risk. Participants will learn what a cell is and the cell life cycle that a normal cell undergoes. They will appreciate that regulation of the cell life cycle is critical and, in general terms accessible to all audiences, how the regulation involves two proteins “p53 and Rb”. We will then move on to the three title topics (cigarette smoke, the sexually-transmitted disease HPV, and UV irradiation) and discuss how each can modify the action of p53 and/or Rb and disrupt the normal life cycle of the cell, potentially leading to cancer. We will discuss how life-style choices may minimize cancer risk.