What Is Programming? And How To Get Started
January 28, 2025
Article
This course is part of Cancer Biology Specialization
Instructors: Kenneth J. Pienta, M.D.
Instructor ratings
We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.
62,748 already enrolled
Included with
(2,448 reviews)
(2,448 reviews)
Add to your LinkedIn profile
6 quizzes
Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV
Share it on social media and in your performance review
Over 500,000 people in the United States and over 8 million people worldwide are dying from cancer every year. As people live longer, the incidence of cancer is rising worldwide, and the disease is expected to strike over 20 million people annually by 2030.
Everyone has been, or will be touched by cancer in some way during their lifetime. Thanks to years of dedication and commitment to research we’ve made enormous advances in the prevention and treatment of cancer, But there is still a lot of work to be done. In this course, physicians and scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine explain how cancer spreads or metastasizes. We’ll describe the major theories of metastasis and then describe the biology behind the steps in metastasis. The course also describes the major organs targeted by metastasis and describes how metastases harm the patient.
In this first module, we'll concentrate on the history and overview of metastasis and give you a flavor of how cancer is defined as well as some of the history surrounding how we began to understand metastasis.
5 videos1 quiz
In this module, we'll focus on uncontrolled cell division, which is a defining property of cancer, as well as mutation and neoangiogenesis and their roles in tumor formation. We'll also take a look at a primary tumor microenvironment and its component cell types.
5 videos1 quiz
During this module, we'll turn our attention to the next steps after the initial primary tumor formation, epithelial to mesenchymal transition of cancer cells, and local tumor invasion and intravasation into blood or lymph vessels.
4 videos1 quiz
We'll now take a close look at cancer survival within the circulation, the role of the circulatory system in metastasis, the genetic determinants of metastatic potential, signalling mechanisms, chemokines, the dock and lock hypothesis, and extravasation.
6 videos1 quiz
In this module, we'll focus on dormancy and secondary tumor growth and how they contribute to the lethality of cancer.
6 videos1 quiz
In the previous modules, we've looked closely at the sequential steps of metastasis and some of the biology of how metastasis occurs. Now, we'll turn our attention to morbidity and mortality, or in other words, how cancer hurts and kills people.
4 videos1 quiz
We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.
Instructor ratings
We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.
The mission of The Johns Hopkins University is to educate its students and cultivate their capacity for life-long learning, to foster independent and original research, and to bring the benefits of discovery to the world.
Course
Yale University
Course
Coursera Project Network
Course
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Course
2,448 reviews
87.06%
11.59%
0.93%
0.20%
0.20%
Showing 3 of 2448
Reviewed on Jun 3, 2018
It is a beautifully designed course. it never gets boring. The best part is that you can learn at your own pace. Thank you all the instructors and Coursera for making the content available.
Reviewed on May 9, 2021
It's a very thorough course. It not only is informative but is very insightful. I shall recommend this course to every individual who is curious to know more about cancer.
Reviewed on Jul 29, 2017
it was an amazing course! everything was clear and well-explained.. i had fun and learned alot! thank you coursera! this was my first course and i really enjoyed every minute of it!
Unlimited access to 10,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription
Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online
Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.