The Genetics of Cancer Web site is designed to be a comprehensive educational program providing a fundamental understanding of genetics, the principles of genetic testing and diagnosis, genetic counseling and cancer-risk assessment. Educational grants to the cancer center from the NCI helped fund the creation of the website. The Genetics of Cancer Web site is the brainchild of genetics researcher Eugene Pergament, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Medical School and director of the reproductive genetics program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and Morris Fiddler, associate professor at the School for New Learning, DePaul University, Chicago.
Genes control the finely tuned process by which cells replicate and divide.
When something goes wrong with this process, genetic mutations result. Great advances in cancer research in the past 20 years have shown all cancers, whether from inherited risk or not, are the result of genetic mutations. But the rapid expansion of basic and clinical research in cancer genetics and related psychosocial, ethical and legal considerations often exceeds the knowledge and experience of most health professionals. All levels contain four modules on the genetics of cancer, the basis of molecular genetics, the genetic basis of disease and genetic counseling.