This course investigates the dynamic interplay of genes and environment with a specific focus on human activities that either increase or decrease vulnerability to cancer. Using textbooks, journal articles and case studies we investigate how exposure to the byproducts of industrialization, urbanization, and biomedicine contribute to an uptick in cancer rates (toxins, sunlight, pollution, stress, and increased lifespan). To better understand these relationships, we utilize an epidemiological approach to cancer cause and risk. Additionally, we explore the role that diet and ethnomedicine play in cancer prevention and how advances in genomics and biotechnology have led to new forms of cancer surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment. There is a heavy emphasis on signal transduction pathways involved in cell differentiation, apoptosis, and division. Topics include the impact of cancer on patients and society as related to funding, politics, and healthcare. Four major cancers are discussed in succession: lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cancers caused by infectious agents (cervical, prostate, liver, gastric, leukemia). Prerequisite is LSCI 2040A Genes, Environment and Behavior and the course counts towards the requirement of the Interdisciplinary Science major in the category of intermediate level or capstone.