Radiation Biology

3.0 credits

The purpose of this course is to teach the principles of molecular, cancer and radiation biology underlying the practice of Radiation Oncology. The course will be organized into topics from a subcellular, cellular, tissue, organism and population basis. The material covers classic radiobiological concepts including mechanisms of DNA damage and repair and characteristics of cell survival curves. The course covers the theoretical areas of radiation biology for the practice of oncology, and its treatment by radiotherapy. The lectures will introduce innovative topics that are emerging as important trends in radiation biology and cancer. Specific topics covered include, but are not limited to, physics and chemistry of radiation action, molecular and cellular radiation biology with a focusing radiation-induced signaling and cell death processes, dose-response relationships, dose-fractionation, and alternative radiation modalities, classic radiation effect on somatic cells, germ cells, embryos and developing fetus, tumor and normal tissue radiation biology, tumor microenvironment and clinical radiation biology, and carcinogenesis.