The website contains a range of resources on key topics related to cancer, which are available for non-commercial reuse in education. It was originally designed to be part of a blended learning approach for students in the biosciences, incorporating interactive learning objects and reinforced by follow-up workshops. A detailed paper evaluating the benefits of this approach has been published (Hejmadi 2007)

A detailed guide to how this resource can be used in teaching is available here

The benefits for learners include

  • Interactive e-resource with easy-to-conceptualise complex processes
  • Self-paced learning enabling students from different degree programs to learn outside the classroom at their own pace
  • 24/7 access to the resources enhancing student learning and motivation
  • Based on published research using updated research articles
  • Useful study or revision guide which allows an assessment of self-learning using formative feedback from multiple choice questions

Benefits for teaching include

• Supports teaching large and diverse student cohorts: This resource was designed for ~180 class sizes with students from diverse backgrounds including biochemistry, biology, psychology and natural sciences.
• Effective teaching practice: Traditional lectures were replaced with fewer follow-up workshops designed to encourage deeper learning
• Formative or summative assessments embedded in the tutorial.
• Reusable learning objects: Animations of key cellular processes that could be used as independent learning objects.

How this resource could be useful in facilitating learning

This e-resource includes

a) Cancer Biology Tutorial 

  • An introduction to cancer (insights, causes, models used etc)
  • DNA replication:Interactive animations on DNA replication in pro and eukaryotic organisms
  • DNA damage: animations on mechanisms of DNA damage
  • DNA repair: Interactive animations on repair pathways, especially Nucleotide Excision Repair among others
  • Text version giving a detailed overview of cancer, DNA replication, damage and repair in a printer-friendly format (students liked this option and also makes it widely accessible to students with disabilities)

b) Powerpoint lectures

and a website on key hallmarks of cancer and cancer therapy, as listed. It also includes question banks and some concept questions.

c) Laboratory Practical on DNA repair.


This e-resource includes overview of the concept, a field observation on which the challenge of coming up with the hypothesis is based, followed by an animation of the experimental procedure. A case study on how this practical enhanced student learning is available as a case study (Hejmadi 2009).