Defense & Barriers I

Catalog description

The Defense and Barriers block in year 1 of the core curriculum will cover the foundational understanding of the immune system, its innate and adaptive functions, its cellular and molecular participants and its sites of activity, including the primary, secondary organs as well as the barrier and mucosal organs (e.g. skin and gut). Students will also be introduced to the microbes that interact with the immune system, as well as the biological basis for the ability of microbes to induce and/or evade an immune response. Blocks will use a combination of lectures, laboratories, group assignments, seminars, and out of class projects to teach and reinforce the information. Case examples will be used to help the students better understand, research, integrate and think about the concepts taught in the classroom and laboratory.