Exploring Cancer Medicines (FutureLearn)

Offered by University of Leeds,
Exploring Cancer Medicines (FutureLearn)

Explore the use of medicines in treating cancer and take your first steps towards becoming a science writer. This course will introduce you to the topic of cancer chemotherapy, and how the development of effective medications for the treatment of cancer remains a significant challenge to scientists.

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You will research the use and development of cancer medicines, focusing on chemotherapy. In addition, through an exploration of how science is communicated to the general public, you will also look at the skills you need to become an effective science writer.

What topics will you cover?

  • The history of cancer medicines with a focus on cancer chemotherapy.
  • The sources of information to use when researching cancer medicines.
  • Important developments that led to the discovery of modern chemotherapeutics.
  • How developments in cancer medicines are reported in the news.
  • Modern perspectives of cancer chemotherapy.
  • An overview of new approaches to cancer treatment.
  • Telling the story: research and write a blog post about future directions in cancer medicines.

Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

  • Reflect on what cancer chemotherapy is and how it was developed.
  • Identify resources which can be used to find out more about the developments in cancer medicines.
  • Compare examples of science writing, and identify angles and target audiences.
  • Investigate current developments in cancer medicines and discuss potential future approaches to treatment.
  • Produce a short blog post about future directions in cancer medicine treatments.

Who is the course for?
This course is part of the Going to University collection which has been specifically designed for students at schools and colleges. They provide a taster of undergraduate study at the University of Leeds and help students to decide which subject to study at university.

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