Spring 2027

Cancer Genetics

Cancer Genetics covers the genetic basis of cancer, focusing on DNA-level abnormalities like oncogenes, tumor suppressors, and DNA repair mechanisms.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Tomas Prolla

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Nicholas Zumwalde

Readings were interesting and helped students expand their knowledge significantly, though specific workload metrics beyond reading assignments were not detailed in the reviews.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe major research advances in cancer genetics

  • Discuss the promises and challenges that await the field of cancer genetics.

  • Apply your understanding of cancer genetics to generate research questions and improve hypothetical patient care

  • Critically evaluate primary literature regarding cancer genetics

  • Organize and deliver a scientific presentation to your peers

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

GENETICS 466, 467 or BIOCORE 383

GENETICS/MDGENET 662

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2019: 3.74 GPA, 77.4% A/AB (n=31 letter grades); Fall 2020: 3.66 GPA, 88.6% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.41 GPA, 60.5% A/AB (n=38 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

NICHOLAS ZUMWALDE is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TOMAS PROLLA is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 500
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 400

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Nicholas Zumwalde

Students found the cancer genetics content complex but exciting, with historical instructor Nicholas Zumwalde described as a fantastic lecturer who prompted deeper thinking during presentations.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.83 GPA, 91.7% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.89 GPA, 95.7% A/AB (n=46 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.41 GPA, 60.5% A/AB (n=38 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Nicholas Zumwalde

Readings were interesting and helped students expand their knowledge significantly, though specific workload metrics beyond reading assignments were not detailed in the reviews.

Past student reviews · Nicholas Zumwalde

Past students appreciated the instructor's care, responsiveness, and ability to explain concepts clearly, noting that office hours revealed a wealth of knowledge and support.

Topics

  • Oncogenes, tumor suppressors, DNA mutations, and repair mechanisms
  • Immune system, cancer resistance, and epigenetic influences

Skills

  • Understanding immune roles in cancer, resistance mechanisms, and anti-tumor strategies
  • Connecting genetic concepts to clinical relevance

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
GENETICS/MDGENET 662 · Spring 2027

Cancer Genetics

Recorded 2026-10-14
GENETICS/MDGENET 662 · Spring 2027

Cancer Genetics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:412:024672",
    "course_id": "GENETICS/MDGENET 662",
    "course_uid": "course_0f207765609f55e3e63e1351",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024672",
    "source_subject_id": "412",
    "title": "Cancer Genetics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:616:024672",
    "course_id": "GENETICS/MDGENET 662",
    "course_uid": "course_0f207765609f55e3e63e1351",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024672",
    "source_subject_id": "616",
    "title": "Cancer Genetics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "a14bef2c5852c3c5d8d2d52180edf08adc05faf3f379c4a7e736e74b4905abdd",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}