Vaccination

Duration

10h Th, 5h Pr, 15h SEM

Number of credits

Lecturer

Laurence Delacroix, N...

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course provides fundamental knowledge to tackle vaccine science, from its conception to its development, and describes the tools and procedures required to assess vaccine efficiency.
Course plan :
1. Passive immunisation 2. Vaccine therapy 3. Vaccination (active immunisation) 4. Different vaccine types 5. Vaccine response 5.1. Immune protection 5.1.a Protection against bacteria 5.1.b Protection against virus 5.1.c Protection against pathogen 5.2. Immune memory 5.2.a Memory B cells 5.2.b Memory T cells 5.3.c Memory and reactivation 5.3. Factors influencing vaccinal response 5.3.a Antigen 5.3.b Inflamatory response 5.3.c Administration route 5.3.d Regulatory T cells 5.3.e The recipient 6. Adjuvants 7. Contraindication 8. Adverse effects 9. Future perspectives 10. Evaluating vaccinal response - techniques

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

On completion of the theoretical part of the course, students should be able to :
- define passive immunisation, vaccine therapy and vaccination approaches
- describe the different vaccine types and appreciate their respective advantages, drawbacks and production systems
- describe the different adjuvants used in licensed vaccines and explain their action mechanisms, virtues and limitations
- demonstrate an understanding of the mechanisms governing pathogen-induced or vaccine-induced immune response
- critically evaluate the differences between immune response and immune protection
- explain how vaccinal responses can be modulated and identify the different factors that have a negative impact on vaccine efficiency
- Plan a detailed experimental approach to evaluate vaccine efficiency

Acquiring this fundamental knowledge about vaccination is a prerequisite for developing more specific skills during the seminars and practicals. Indeed, to be able to understand, analyse and criticise the published data concerning vaccine development, it is vital to have more than an intuitive knowledge.
During the seminars, by giving a clear oral presentation, the students should demonstrate that they carried out bibliographic searches and that they are able to analyse and comment results from the literature.
During practical work, the students should be able to follow an experimental procedure and draw conclusions on the experimental data they obtained. The results should be graphically presented and fully discussed in the report.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Previous courses: "Immunologie Générale" IMMU0320 (BAC2) and "Immunopathologie" IMMU0522 (BAC3).

"Immunologie des tumeurs" SBIM0484 (Master2) presented by Dr. Nathalie Jacobs will adequately implement the vaccination course by detailing the cancer vaccines. This issue will therefore not be considered in vaccination course.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

- Introductory session (3 hrs) aims at refreshing the student's knowledge concerning the basics of Immunology that are absolutely required to understand the vaccination course. This session is co-organised with Dr. N. Jacobs ("Immunologie des tumeurs") and is conducted as an anonymous quiz. After each question, the given answers will be discussed collectively in order to favor active participation of the students.

- Theoretical lectures (10 hrs) may be given in English upon agreement of the majority of the students. Student's questions are warmly welcome during the lecture.

- Seminars (10 hrs): the students will present, individually, the results of a recent vaccinology study and will take questions from their collegues.

- Lecture by professionals of the vaccine industry (to be confirmed according to speaker availability)

- Practical work (single session of 5 hrs): students will work in pairs to perform an ELISA experiment.

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

Face-to-Face Practical work report at home

Recommended or required readings

Recommended reference books (but not mandatory):
« Immunologie. Le cours de Janis Kuby » T.J. Kindt, R.A. Goldsby and B.A. Osborne, Dunod, Paris 2008



Notes de cours :
The slides projected during the theoretical lessons are available on MyULg (in french).



Practical work notes:
Notes containing technical aspects of ELISA, experimental procedure and specific questions to be answered during the session will be distributed to the students on the day of the practical work.

Assessment methods and criteria

Final evaluation is in 3 parts:
- Oral exam contains 2-3 theoretical questions and 2-3 figures to be discussed - 60%.
- Oral presentation during the seminars (clarity of the presentation, understanding of the paper's objectives, methods and conclusions as well as critical analysis) - 25%.
- Practical work (experimental skills, rigour, active involvement, data presentation and interpretation in the report) - 15%.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Dr. Laurence Delacroix,
1 avenue de l'Hôpital - CHU Bat B36+1 - 4000 Liège
Téléphone : 04/366 21 78
Email : ldelacroix@ulg.ac.be