Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, the student must:

Understand how our immune system can recognize pathogens

Understand how our immune system fights an infection (virus, intracellular bacteria, extracellular bacteria, worms, protozoa, etc.)

Understand how our immune system protects us from cancer

Understand why some people are more or less sensitive to certain pathogens

Understand how our immune system distinguishes between self and non-self

Understand the causes of autoimmune diseases

Understand the rejection mechanisms

Understand how pathogens escape the immune response

Understand how the memory of our immune response works

Understand how our immunity can improve to respond to a pathogen

 

Goals

This course aims to provide students with a fundamental understanding of the immune system, its mechanisms and its role in health and disease. The main objectives are:

  1.  Understand the basics of immunology:

Know the components of the immune system, such as cells (lymphocytes, macrophages, etc.), organs (lymph nodes, bone marrow, thymus, etc.), and molecules (antibodies, cytokines, etc.).

Distinguish between the different immune responses: innate immunity and adaptive immunity.

  1. Master the defense mechanisms against pathogens:

Study how the body detects (recognition of antigens) and eliminates infections caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites and other pathogens.

  1. Study the regulation of the immune system:

Understand how the immune system is controlled and modulated to avoid excessive reactions (as in allergies) or insufficient reactions.

Know the mechanisms of immune tolerance, that is, how the immune system avoids attacking its own cells (autoimmunity).

  1. Analyzing pathologies related to the immune system:

Explore autoimmune diseases, allergies and immunodeficiency. Study how the deregulation of the immune system contributes to the development of these pathologies.

Explore organ transplants and the role of immunological rejection.

 

Content

The immune system is… a system! We will begin by detailing the different actors of this system (cells and organs) and the basic principles of its functioning (receptor and signal transduction). The course includes the study of non-specific means of defense (innate immunity) and specific responses to infectious agents (adaptive immunity). The emphasis is placed on the spatio-temporal dynamics of the immune system and on the numerous interactions that ensure its control. The immunology course goes beyond the framework of anti-infectious defense and allows us to grasp the intimate mechanism of numerous biological phenomena: hypersensitivity (allergy), anti-tumor response, autoimmune reaction or even transplant rejection.

 

Table of contents

Introduction

Cells and organs of the immune system

Receptors and transduction

Innate immunity

Complement

Development of naive B cells

Development of naive T cells

The major histocompatibility complex and antigen presentation

Activation and differentiation of T

Activation and differentiation of B

Humoral and cellular responses

Mucosal immunity

Immune response in space and time

Allergy, hypersensitivity and inflammation

Tolerance, autoimmunity and transplantation

 

Assessment method

Written examination covering the material seen in the theoretical courses and given during the practical work.

 

 

Sources, references and any support material

Janeway's Immunobiology 9th New edition Edition, Garland Science, by Kenneth Murphy and Casey Weaver, ISBN-13: 978-0815345510

Kuby Immunology, 7th edition, W. H. Freeman, by Judy Owen, Jenni Punt, Sharon Stranford and Patricia Jones, ISBN-13: 978-1464189784

Language of instruction

Français
Training Study programme Block Credits Mandatory
Bachelier en médecine vétérinaire Standard 0 4
Bachelier en sciences biologiques Standard 0 4
Bachelier en médecine vétérinaire Standard 3 4
Bachelier en sciences biologiques Standard 3 4