On 22nd June the students of grade XI and XII Science attended a seminar in the school auditorium to know more about cancer and its causes from a scientific angle.
The seminar started with the discussion of basic concepts of biology which included central dogma which is the overall process by which the DNA is converted to RNA through transcription and then into protein by translation. Then it went on to why cancer cells are called Henrietta cells (HeLa), a name given to cells that are immortal. These cells can be studied under a microscope using fluorescence image. The main reason why cancer is caused in the body can be explained from the understanding of the protein cascade system. A small change in it can stop ‘apoptosis’ or the programmed cell death in cancer cells making th

e it immortal. According to the recent statistics cancer cells are getting better and better at evading the body defences. We were told about some of these methods through shocking case studies. We were then told about an upcoming method of curing cancer- nano surgery. Finally, the seminar concluded with a demonstration of how important our DNA is to us and how we can prevent changes caused due to smoking and radiation.