MICR0002-1 : Immunology and vaccinology

Study Programmes 2015-2016

MICR0002-1

Immunology and vaccinology

Duration :

25h Th

Number of credits :

Master in biochemistry and molecular and cell biology (120 ECTS)		3

Lecturer :

Jacques Piette, Catherine Sadzot

Coordinator :

Jacques Piette

Language(s) of instruction :

French language

Organisation and examination :

Teaching in the second semester

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Course contents :

Chapter 1: Basis of innate immunity (10h)
Immune cells involved in pathogen recognition
Expression and control of innate immune defense genes
Transduction pathways and recognition motives
Pathogen-associated molecular patterns
Danger-associated molecular patterns
Innate immune response receptors
Toll-like receptors. Their discovery in insect and plant. Signal transduction pathways in animal
Cytosolic receptors: NLR, RLR
Inflammasome and sterile inflammation
Virus recognition and viral interference
Chapter 2: Inflammation (5h)
Basis of the inflammatory reaction
Consequences of the inflammatory reaction
Out of control inflammatory reaction, chronicity
Activation and modulation of the adaptative response: importance of the innate response
Chapter 3: Principles of vaccine design (5h)
Discovery of vaccination
Modern approaches of vaccination
Antigen processing
Adjuvant concept
Mucosal immunity
Animal models for vaccination
Chapter 4: Vaccinal antigen discovery and their engineering (3h)
Bio-informatic, proteomic and phage display libraries
Attenuated microbial vaccines
Virus-like particles
Recombinant vaccines
Chapter 5: How to deliver a vaccine and how to evaluate its activity (2h)
Trans-cutaneous immunisation and injection without needle
Oral vaccines
Biodegradable microparticles
Advantages and drawbacks of multivalent vaccines
Strategies and clinical follow-up
Efficacy evaluation
Safety
Ethical concerns

Learning outcomes of the course :

Gain a preliminary view on the innate immune response and its importance in vaccination

Prerequisite knowledge and skills :

Prerequisite in immunology, microbiology and molecular biology

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :

Oral lessons. Depending on the number of registered students, other learning activities will be undertaken.
Of importance and if possible, lectures could be given by a scientist working in a vaccine company.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :

face-to-face