Health-Sciences - Course - Clinical Laboratory Immunology

This course is designed to teach the basic tenants of immunology and serology. It also undertakes areas of contemporary immunological knowledge and simultaneously provides a historical view of the discoveries that have built the groundwork of modern immunological thought and mechanism of fighting disease. The two functional divisions of the immune system, the innate and the adaptive immune system, antigens, antibodies and lymphocytes are studied, along with the cells and the soluble factors responsible for the immune response. The course also describes principles of immunology applicable to concepts in clinical medicine; introduction to diagnosis and management of human immuno-pathologic disorders. There are two major sections of this course: i) basic immunology; and ii) medical immunology and serology with particular emphasis on the immunoassays useful in the medical laboratory. The following subsections are serving ILOs of this course: Part 1 – Basic principles include: Innate immunity; Specific acquired immunity; Antibodies; Membrane receptors for antigens; The primary interaction with antigen; Immunological methods and interactions; The anatomy of the immune response; Lymphocyte activation; The production of effectors; Control mechanisms; and Ontogeny and phylogeny. Part 2 – Clinical applications include: Adversarial strategies during infection; Vaccines; Immunodeficiency; Allergy and other hypersensitivities; Transplantation; Tumor immunology; and Autoimmune diseases. Part 3 – Immunology electronic databases include: Electronic databases use in immunology and serology testing.