Principles of Human Disease
MIT OpenCourseWare's look at the molecular and cellular basis of genetic disease and cancer. Topics include the genetics of simple and complex traits, karyotypic analysis and positional cloning, genetic diagnosis, and the roles of oncogenes and tumor suppressors in tumor initiation, progression, and treatment. The course also covers how genetics and environment interact to produce disease, animal models used to study human illness, and both conventional and gene therapy treatment strategies. Materials include MIT lecture notes and course readings, following the structure of an MIT undergraduate biology subject. Free to access through MIT OpenCourseWare, with no certificate offered. Suited to students who already have some grounding in genetics and want to see how that knowledge applies to real disease mechanisms, from inherited disorders to cancer biology.