Cancer Biology & Cancer Neuroscience
An independent primer on cancer evolution, Hallmarks of Cancer, the tumor microenvironment, pediatric glioma, neuron-to-cancer signaling, and emerging therapeutic strategies.
3 modules · 9 lessons · 1h · mastery threshold 80
Watch videos free — no sign-inBackground for Research in the Michelle Monje Lab This independent educational primer introduces scientific concepts relevant to research themes in the Michelle Monje Lab at Stanford University. It is not an official Stanford University or Michelle Monje Lab course and does not imply endorsement or affiliation. For ambitious high-school students and early undergraduates. Video-first lessons with concise written companions. Approximately one hour with assessments; mastery-only certificate eligibility at 80%, without a capstone or Research Defense.
Module 1
Evolution, hallmark capabilities, and the tumor ecosystem.
Module 2
Developmental states, diffuse midline glioma, and causal evidence.
Module 3
Activity-dependent growth, electrical integration, and careful translation.
Activity-dependent glioma growth and NLGN3
Interpret activity-dependent growth and conditional NLGN3 dependence.
Cancer as clonal evolution
Explain tumor change through clonal variation and selection.
Cancer-neuroscience translation and treatment-related neural effects
Evaluate preclinical findings, retrospective associations, and neural treatment effects.
Correlation, perturbation, and causal mechanism
Combine controlled perturbations and recordings to strengthen causal claims.
Diffuse midline glioma and developmental cell-state biology
Relate diffuse midline glioma to developmental cell states.
Enabling/emerging characteristics in modern Hallmarks taxonomy
Keep enabling characteristics and proposed new dimensions distinct from core capabilities.
Experimental methods for cancer neuroscience
Match experimental methods to structure, activity, and cell-state questions.
Functional neuron-to-glioma synapses
Separate functional synaptic evidence from cell identity.
Glutamatergic, GABAergic, cholinergic, and electrical tumor signaling
Distinguish transmitter mechanisms and tumor-specific electrical responses.
H3K27 alteration, anatomy, and treatment difficulty
Distinguish H3K27-altered midline tumors and the pontine DIPG clinical label.
Hallmark capabilities governing proliferation and survival
Distinguish hallmark capabilities from individual genes.
Immune, stromal, vascular, neural, and extracellular components
Distinguish general carcinoma stroma from the brain tumor microenvironment.
Invasion, metabolism, immune evasion, and plasticity
Relate invasion, metabolic change, immune escape, and plasticity to cancer behavior.
Mechanism-guided therapy and GD2 CAR T
Distinguish early GD2 CAR T activity from established clinical efficacy.
NLGN3-CSPG4/mechanotransduction and developmental-state hijacking
Explain NLGN3-CSPG4 mechanotransduction within tested models.
Oncogenes, tumor suppressors, and tumor heterogeneity
Distinguish oncogenes, tumor suppressors, and heterogeneous cell states.
Replicative immortality and tumor vascularization
Explain telomere maintenance and inducing or accessing blood vessels.
Tumor microenvironment as an ecosystem
Describe a tumor as interacting malignant and nonmalignant populations.