Course details
Tutors
Aims
This course aims to:
- introduce the basic functions of the innate and adaptive immune responses
- allow you to understand how the body responds to danger
- demonstrate the importance of the immune system for health and disease
Course content
The immune system is a complex network of defence mechanisms whose primary purpose is to protect the host from damage. The threat of damage can come from a range of different sources – pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, physical trauma, exposure to chemicals and pollutants, and host-derived molecules. The innate immune system provides a repeatable and consistent response to threat and responds in a predictable manner whenever activated. The adaptive immune system is a vertebrate specific immune adaptation and enables the host to develop a specific memory to threats enabling it to respond more quickly and more strongly each time that threat is encountered.
Across the course we will explore the functions of the innate and adaptive immune responses, develop an understanding of how they are activated and learn about the cells and molecules critical to their function. We will look at how the systems recognise a threat, how they respond and what happens when this response goes wrong or is inappropriate. This will be achieved using a range of case studies covering acute and chronic inflammatory conditions, a range of pathogenic threats and the immunological response to allergens and cancer.
What to expect on this course
The course will be delivered through a series of seminars and discussions. You will be encouraged to actively participate in the teaching through small group discussion, individual activities and question and answer sessions.
Course sessions
1. Introducing the Immune System – Part 1
This session will introduce the immune system and explore how the innate immune system recognises and responds to danger.
2. Introducing the Immune System – Part 2
In the second session we will look at adaptive immunity and how this can be used to provide protection against disease and danger.
3. Acute and Chronic Inflammation
Using a range of case studies, we will look in more detail at the acute and chronic inflammatory responses, including how they contribute to the development and presentation of disease.
4. Infectious Diseases
This session will consider viral and bacterial diseases to demonstrate how they cause disease, how the immune system combats the infection and how the pathogens try to evade this immune response.
5. Allergy and Cancer
The final session will explore the different and varying ways that allergens and cancer cells interface with the immune response, how this contributes to disease and what it means for treatment options.
Learning outcomes
As a result of the course, you will gain a greater understanding of the subject and you should be able to:
- describe the basic functions of the innate and adaptive immune systems
- demonstrate an understanding of how the immune response contributes to health and disease
- use case studies to describe how the immune system recognises threat and produces an appropriate response
Required reading
There is no required reading for this course. See Course materials for supplementary reading once registered.