About the lecture

In the first mini-lecture, we discuss cancer as being the result of uncontrolled cell division, as mentioned in topic 3.12 and 3.13. We begin by explaining why there are differences in the inherited characteristics as a result of alleles. To do so, we explain how genetic information is passed from parents to offspring through sex cells like egg and sperm cells, otherwise known as gametes. We then learn about some of the key terms geneticists use to understand variation and inheritance, including ‘chromosome’, ‘gene’, ‘allele’, ‘homozygous’, ‘heterozygous’, ‘genotype’, and ‘phenotype’.

About the lecturer

Dr Matthew Ivory is a Lecturer at Cardiff University in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (2016-present). His key expertise is in ex vivo human skin organ culture and histology, human skin immune cell extraction and culture, flow cytometry and pharmaceutical formulation, and his research interests are in the delivery of vaccines and therapeutics into the skin. In addition to this, he is also a qualified pharmacist.