Fundamental Topics in Immunology 4X Course Information 2023-2024
Welcome to the final year of your programme. One of the aims of the final year is to prepare you for the years ahead. The teaching will be structured differently, and you will be encouraged to work independently. We expect you to develop a breadth to your thinking and writing. This is the time to bring together knowledge gained during the past three years, looking for general principles which can be used productively. This mature approach should be expressed in your coursework, project report and examination answers. The key to success in final year is good time-management.
We recommend that you read this Course Information Document at the start of your final year.
In addition, there is important information about regulations, assessment and progression in the Life Sciences Handbook: Regulations & Advice; again, you should read this document at the start of the year and you must refer to it as necessary.
Please keep this Course Information Document for future reference after you graduate; you may need to provide course details for further study or other training.
While the information contained in the document is correct at the time of printing, it may be necessary to make changes. Check your online timetable, Moodle and your email messages regularly.
The five component courses which make up the final year of your programme are:
1 x project or dissertation course (40 credits)
1 x the core course for your programme (20 credits)
3 x Honours options (3 x 20-credits)
|
Semester |
Day |
Course block |
Suffix on Course Name |
|
1 |
Monday |
Core block |
"…4X core" |
|
1 |
Tuesday |
|
|
|
1 |
Wednesday |
|
|
|
1 |
Thursday |
|
|
|
1 |
Friday |
S1 option block |
"…4Y option" |
|
2 |
Monday |
S2-A option block |
"…4A option" |
|
2 |
Tuesday |
S2-B option block |
"…4B option" |
|
2 |
Wednesday |
S2-E option block |
"…4E option" |
|
2 |
Thursday |
S2-C option block |
"…4C option" |
|
2 |
Friday |
S2-D option block |
"…4D option" |
You should devote THREE days per week to the research phase of the project, normally all day Tuesday, Wednesday AM and all day Thursday during 10 weeks of Semester 1. The remaining half day can be undertaken Monday and/or Friday and/or Wednesday PM, depending on your own taught course timetable and the nature of your project.
You take three Honours options in total: one in Semester 1 and two in Semester 2.
The Semester 1 options are usually taught on Fridays, and you choose one option from the 4Y list.
Semester 2 options are arranged in five blocks, one for each day of the week (4A, 4B, 4C, 4D and 4E options). You choose two options from these five blocks, but no more than one for any block.
Once enrolment opens in August, you choose the options that you wish to study in final year. Please note that the list of offered Honours options changes slightly each year as options are introduced, withdrawn or moved to a different block; therefore, options you see in your MyCampus My Requirements report may not be available for you to choose when you reach final year.
You do not have a free choice when choosing options. The following factors determine which options you can take.
1. Each programme specifies which options are compulsory and recommended for that programme. You must choose options which satisfy the stated Requirements for your programme.
2. In addition, each option specifies restrictions on admission (“Requirements of Entry” or “Enrolment Requirements”) to ensure that only students with the necessary academic background can enrol on that option. A few options allow any Life Sciences final-year student to enrol while other options only accept enrolment from students registered for a particular programme or set of programmes (for example Behavioural Ecology 4B option specifies the following: “Normally, only available to final-year Life Sciences students in the Animal Biology group programmes”).
3. A few options require you to apply in advance during Year 3. You cannot take one of these options if you have not been approved in advance. Currently, these are:
· Tropical Marine Biology (with Field Course) 4Y option
· Marine Mammal Biology (with Field Course) 4Y option
· Ecology & Conservation of African Ecosystems (with Field Course) 4Y option
· Investigating Biological Function 4B option
4. Most options limit the number of students that may enrol. For many options, the limit is around 30 students but some options have a lower or higher limit on class size. Enrolment is on a first-come, first-served basis.
5. An option may be cancelled if too few students wish to do it or if there are other circumstances which mean an option cannot run.
You undertake a piece of independent work in final year, either a project or a dissertation. University regulations stipulate that you MUST obtain at least D3 in the “independent work” course for an Honours degree to be awarded.
You undertake a piece of independent work in final year, either a project or a dissertation. University regulations stipulate that you MUST obtain at least D3 in the “independent work” course for an Honours degree to be awarded.
During Year 3, you choose which type of final-year project you would like to do. There are four types of project within the Life Sciences portfolio:
· Investigative (both laboratory-based “wet” projects and traditional “dry” projects)
· Dissertation
· Outreach (both School and Public Engagement)
· Internship *
* Although the Internship type of project is available in theory to students on any programme, this will depend on internships being offered which are suitable to the programme. Until now, internships have only been available to students in Physiology & Sports Science.
The type of project you are allocated determines which project course you enrol on in MyCampus.
It may not be possible to allocate projects in line with your aspirations but staff seek to maximise each student’s preference. Your grades from Year 3 may be taken into account when project allocations are being made.
If you are a student in the Animal Biology Group (Marine & Freshwater Biology or Zoology), you are encouraged to think up possible projects yourself. However, you must find a member of staff willing to act as your supervisor.
Please refer to the current session’s Project Course Information Document for more information.
Professor Robert Nibbs, Robert.Nibbs@glasgow.ac.uk
Deputy: Professor Simon Milling, Simon.Milling@glasgow.ac.uk
Professor Simon Milling, Simon.Milling@glasgow.ac.uk
Teaching staff names can be found on your online timetable and contact details can be found on the University website Staff A-Z
Dr Janine Coombes, Robert Gordon University
The Life Sciences Office is located in Room 354 of the Sir James Black Building. Opening hours for enquiries are: Monday to Friday: 9:30am to 4:30pm.
Course Code
BIOL4184
Course Title
Fundamental Topics in Immunology 4X core
Academic Session
2023-24
Short Description of the Course
This course focuses on enabling students to develop a detailed understanding of the development and function of the cells of the immune system and awareness of recent developments in innate and adaptive immunity.
Requirements of Entry
Normally, only available to final-year School of Life Sciences students in an Immunology programme. Visiting students may be allowed to enrol, at the discretion of the School of Life Sciences Chief Adviser and the Course Coordinator.
Associated Programmes
This course is offered by the Immunology programme. It is a compulsory course for Honours programmes in Immunology.
Available to visiting students
Yes
Available to Erasmus students
Yes
Typically offered
Semester 1
Timetable
Normally, there are 3 hours of teaching on Mondays, which may be split over more than one session.
Course Aims
The aims of this course are to develop:
a comprehensive understanding of key topics fundamental to the current understanding of the development and function of the immune system;
an awareness and knowledge of recent developments in innate and adaptive immunity.
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
analyse how structure relates to function in primary and secondary lymphoid organs;
discuss the development of T and B lymphocytes at the molecular and cellular level, and the mechanisms of selection that occurs during the development of these cells;
give an account of the diversity and role of innate immune cells, and appraise how they sense and respond to microbial products;
evaluate the properties and function of dendritic cells, and their roles in antigen presentation;
critically analyse the role of various T cell subsets during adaptive immune responses and peripheral tolerance;
discuss interactions between the microbiota and the immune system;
relate the processes involved in lymphocyte interactions to the functions of the germinal centre.
Minimum Requirements for Award of Credits
Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course’s summative assessment.
Description of Summative Assessment
The course will be assessed by a 2-hour examination (75%) and in-course assessment consisting of a brief report on a scientific paper in the format of Nature Immunology’s “News and Views” articles (25%).
Are reassessment opportunities normally available for all summative assessments in this course
Not applicable for Honours courses
Formative Assessment and Feedback
Feedback will be given to the class during the teaching sessions, in a session dedicated to practicing writing exam essays. Students will prepare an example essay during the class and will receive immediate feedback from their peers during the class, and individual written feedback from staff.
Students will be given the opportunity to practice writing a News & Views (N&V) style article about a recent research paper. This will be done in their own time, based around guidance received in one of the taught sessions. Their N&V articles will be assessed by the member of staff who delivered that taught session and/or the student’s peer group. Students will receive verbal feedback as a class or individual written feedback — areas for improvement will be identified and ways to improve described. Students will then be given the opportunity to re-draft their article, which will be assessed for a second time by the staff member and written or verbal feedback provided as further formative assessment.
Drawing on this practice and associated feedback, the students will then write another News & Views style article based on a different research article and submit this for summative assessment.
Examination Diet
April/May
Total Exam Duration
120 minutes
Submission deadline: 4pm Friday 5th January 2024
Nature journals, including Nature Immunology, often contain News & Views (N&V) articles linked to a research paper that appears in that issue of the journal. The N&V articles are intended to summarise and explain the research paper to the wider Immunology community and place them in the context of previous and ongoing research. Several recent research papers from Nature Immunology are available on Moodle. Your job is to produce a short N&V-style article based on ONE of these articles. This task is designed to test your ability to concisely and clearly present the findings of a single complex research paper to an audience of immunologists. The article you select MUST NOT be on a topic that is directly related to your Lab/Dissertation Project (ask Prof Nibbs if you’re uncertain about this).
The following is available to help you write your N&V article:
Published Nature Immunology N&V articles. To get an idea of what is expected you should study N&V articles, and the accompanying research papers, from the Nature Immunology website. Several are also available on Moodle, along with a document containing a brief description of the structure/content of each N&V article.
Previous students’ N&V articles. You should look carefully at some of the N&V articles submitted by students in previous years, along with the associated research papers and the markers’ grades and feedback. They are available on Moodle.
News & Views Advice session. You should attend this session to get a better understanding of how to prepare an N&V article. Further details can be found in the ‘Session Summaries’ section below.
OPTIONAL: Practice N&V article with feedback. A Nature Immunology research paper has been put on Moodle that you can use to practice writing a N&V article. It would be wise to have looked at this article before the News & Views Advice session. You can prepare a draft N&V article based on this research paper and submit it to Prof Nibbs via the ‘N&V article: submission of PRACTICE article…’ portal on Moodle. Prof Nibbs will provide feedback on your work as long as you have submitted it via the portal on Moodle by the 29th October 2023. After receiving feedback, you can email a revised version of your practice N&V article to Prof Nibbs for further comment.
News & Views Q&A session. Before you submit your N&V article for summative assessment you will have the opportunity to attend a session in which there will be a Q&A discussion, and the opportunity to ask any remaining questions you have about your work. This will be done in the ‘News & Views Q&A’ session (Session 10): further details are in the ‘Session Summaries’ section.
N&V articles start with a short catchy title, followed by summary sentence(s) summarising the advance reported in the paper. The article itself should be easy-to-read and explain the study to a reader who has a broad understanding of Immunology, but who is not a specialist in the research area that forms the focus of the paper. It should be a maximum of 1,000 words, excluding title, author details, summary sentence(s), figure & legend, and reference list. You must include a Figure, but only one is permitted. You may include a maximum of 10 references, one of which must be the paper that you are reviewing. The text should be in 12 points, normally Times New Roman or similar font. The entire document should be justified, 1.5 line-spaced, and contain page numbers.
Title: Try to think of something succinct, catchy, clever, or even amusing, as a title for your article. Most N&V article titles in Nature Immunology have less than ten words.
Author Details: Provide your student ID number and your affiliation (i.e. School of Infection & Immunity, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK).
Summary Sentence(s): Summarise the scientific advance reported in the research paper in a punchy 1-2 sentence summary. Try to include what you consider to be all the keywords.
Article: Put the research finding in the context of previous work; describe the question(s) that the paper has addressed, and the experimental set-up used; and explain how the new work represents an important advance in Immunology. The research paper will have been reviewed by several eminent immunologists who have accepted that the data justify the conclusions made by the authors. Thus, your article is not supposed to be a critical analysis of the data. However, you should discuss any controversies and conflicting data in the broader research area. You should also highlight any questions that the new research raises, and whether the work could have any larger impact such as on the treatment of disease.
Figure: You should construct an eye-catching, accurate, but simple figure that graphically summarises the new advance reported in the research paper. The Figure Legend should fully explain the Figure’s content, and any abbreviations or symbols you use in the Figure should be defined in the Legend. It should be possible to understand the Figure using the Legend without having to refer to the text of the article.
References: You may cite a maximum of 10 references (reviews or other research papers), one of which must be the research paper that is the focus of your article. Format these references in the same way that references appear in Nature Immunology. All other references cited MUST have been published before the research paper you are reviewing.
Remember, markers from amongst the Immunology staff will read your article, so it would be wise to ensure that it is well written, carefully formatted, and contains an attractive, simple Figure with a complete Figure Legend.
The grade for your N&V article constitutes 25% of your overall grade for this course.
Your final article must be submitted for assessment no later than 4pm on Friday 5th January 2023. You will be informed if there is any change to this deadline. You must submit an electronic version of your article as a pdf file via Moodle.
It is essential that the article you submit is ALL YOUR OWN WORK. To avoid inadvertent plagiarism, you can first assess a draft of your article through the ‘N&V article: submission of DRAFT of article destined for summative assessment’ portal that can be accessed via Moodle. The final version of your article that you submit for assessment should be submitted via the ‘N&V article: submission of FINAL article for summative assessment’ site on Moodle. Prof Nibbs will check the plagiarism report of your final submission to make sure that there is nothing of concern. Any significant concerns identified by Turnitin, or by the markers, might be referred to the University Senate and could result in punitive measures, including grade reduction or the award of H (zero). If you have any doubts about any of this, or about anything else relating to plagiarism, please contact Profs Nibbs and/or Milling.
Two members of staff will individually assess your submitted work and then meet to agree grades and feedback. They will then complete a ‘N&V: Agreed Grade and Feedback form’. You can view a copy of this form on Moodle. It shows the five components of the N&V article that will be assessed by the markers, and the percentage of the overall grade that is assigned to each component. Once all student work has been assessed, the completed Markers Agreed Grade and Feedback form relating to your work will be made available to you.
Welcome to Level-4 Immunology! In this session, we will explain the content of the Level-4 Immunology programme and provide details of how you will be assessed. We will cover the four Option courses run by Immunology, and describe other option courses that are available to you, and provide information about the Project. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to ask any questions you might have about the Immunology programme and its assessment.
Synopsis
After a brief introduction of the content of this Option, this session will focus on the development, structure and function of secondary lymphoid organs, including lymph nodes, the spleen and Peyer’s patches. These organs have specialised compartments that allow effective and prolonged interactions between antigen presenting cells (APC), T cells, B cells and other accessory cells. We will examine the anatomical and structural characteristics of these tissues; explore the process of antigen delivery and acquisition; investigate the role of stromal cells; discuss the development of these tissues during foetal life; and examine their dynamic nature in adults.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able to:
Outline the properties of key cells and molecules involved in lymphorganogenesis;
Describe how the structure of different secondary lymphoid organs are customised to their anatomical position;
Discuss the structure and functions of distinct components of secondary lymphoid organs;
Describe the functional roles played by stromal cells in secondary lymphoid organs;
Recount how lymphocytes and APC migrate to and within lymph nodes;
Describe mechanisms of antigen delivery to secondary lymphoid organs;
Summarise how lymphoid organs change and adapt in adult life, and the role of tertiary lymphoid tissue during infection.
Synopsis
This session will start with an overview of how distinct types of pathogens or stressors are sensed by the host using a variety of innate immune sensors (PRR). This will include paradigms of PRR activation as well as the various downstream effector responses elicited by different PRR. The strategic positioning of distinct types of PRR and the importance of innate sensing in tissue cells will also be discussed. Genetic associations linking polymorphism of PRR genes with human inflammatory diseases and the potential mechanisms involved will be covered. The second part of the session will consider some of the key pieces of evidence that underlie recent conceptual progress, using examples from the primary literature.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able to:
Describe the various classes of PRR and their roles in sensing distinct danger signals;
Give an account of the key effector responses elicited by PRR activation;
Understand the significance of the cellular and sub-cellular localization of different PRR;
Describe why innate sensing by non-haematopoietic tissue cells is important;
Describe how polymorphisms in PRR genes are associated with human inflammatory diseases and outline therapeutic approaches.
Specific references of key sources of information/experiments will be included in the Powerpoint presentation.
Synopsis
Monocytes and macrophages are key innate cells that fight infections and regulate tissue homeostasis. We will discuss the composition of the myeloid progenitor compartment and the molecular pathways that control the differentiation of different subsets and their polarization states. We will also review how monocytes and macrophages maintain tissue homeostasis and contribute to immune responses and repair processes. In the last part, we will focus on the role of these cells in the inflammatory and fibrotic disorders.
Aims
By the end of the session you should be able to
Describe monocyte and macrophage subsets and how they develop.
Outline the molecular mechanisms that direct lineage commitment in the myeloid system
Understand the difference between differentiation of myeloid subsets and their polarization states
Describe the role of different monocyte/macrophage subsets and their polarization states in the immune response and their contribution to the pathologies.
Synopsis
25% of the grade for this course comes from our assessment of a News & Views (N&V) article that you will write based on one of the Nature Immunology research papers on Moodle. Details are included in the ‘In-Course Assessment’ section of this Course Information Document.
Before this session, you should do the following:
Study published Nature Immunology N&V articles and the research papers they are summarising. These can be downloaded from the Nature Immunology website, but several are also available on Moodle, along with a document containing a brief description of the structure/content of each N&V article.
Look at previous students’ N&V articles: these are available on Moodle, along with the associated research papers and the markers’ grades and feedback.
Read the section in the CID about N&V articles.
Read the research paper on Moodle (Safronova et al Nature Immunology 20:64-72) that will form the focus of the optional ‘Practice’ N&V article. You could start writing your practice N&V article, plan the structure of the article, and/or prepare a draft Figure. The Figure could be a hand-drawn sketch, if you find this is quicker than using Powerpoint, Biorender or similar software - you could also write a Figure Legend to accompany your Figure.
In the first part of the session, we will discuss the structure of N&V articles and the resources that you will have looked at on Moodle. There will be time for student-led discussion, facilitated by Prof Nibbs, and he will provide additional advice and tips, as required. You will be encouraged to ask any questions you might have about this task and its assessment.
In the second part of the session, we will spend time specifically considering the Safronova et al paper, the focus of the optional practice N&V article. We will look at how you could approach summarising this paper in a N&V article, and Prof Nibbs will share his notes and draft figures. We will then have a group discussion that aims to identify common problems and challenges, and consider how these might be avoided, corrected or overcome.
OPTIONAL: In the weeks following the session, you can use the general and specific information in the session to prepare your practice N&V article based on the Safronova et al paper. This need not be a polished final version and the Figure can be a photograph of a clear hand-drawn sketch, if this saves you time, but it should be accompanied by a suitable Figure Legend. Prof Nibbs will provide feedback on your work as long as you have submitted it via the ‘N&V article: submission of PRACTICE article’ portal on Moodle by the 29th October 2023. You will not be given a grade because it’s unlikely that your practice N&V article will be your best work, and may not be complete, so grading such work would not be helpful.
Aims
By the end of the session, you should be able to:
Describe the typical format, structure and content of News & Views articles;
Describe how to construct a Figure & Legend appropriate for a News & Views article;
Critically evaluate News & Views articles, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and providing constructive feedback;
Use Moodle-based resources and the contents of this session to prepare a News & Views article based on a research paper from Nature Immunology.
Synopsis
This session will begin with a taught summary of the immunological functions of dendritic cells, to consolidate and advance the understanding gained during the Junior Honours year. This will focus on the cellular immunology and anatomy of dendritic cells and the cells with which they interact, as they migrate from peripheral tissues to draining lymph nodes and drive the differentiation of naïve T cells. After a recap on recent developments in the understanding of the differences between dendritic cells and other antigen-presenting cells, we will consider aspects of how dendritic cells control the T cell response, the different functions of the subsets of conventional dendritic cells, and emerging data about potential new populations of dendritic cells.
The second part of the session will consolidate this learning, using some recent papers from the literature to further explore some topical aspects of DC biology.
Aims
To consolidate and extend the understanding of dendritic cell functions and their relationship with dendritic cell ontogeny.
To become familiar with events controlling initiation of the adaptive immune response.
To gain a deeper understanding of recent work investigating dendritic cells and their functions.
Synopsis
This session on lymphocyte development will examine how T and B cells develop to generate diverse repertoires that are largely tolerant to self. The checkpoints that developing B and T cells must go through to achieve this will be described, namely, commitment to cell type, expression of a successfully re-arranged antigen receptor, and removal of autoreactive cells. The cells/molecules that regulates these processes will be described and, in some cases, data presented to demonstrate how we have learnt about their function(s).
Aims
At the end of the session you should be able to:
Describe the locations of the different stages of B and T cell development and the expression of molecules by B/T cells that mark progression through these stages;
Discuss the three main checkpoints developing B and T cells go through: cell type commitment; expression of antigen receptor; removal of autoreactive cells;
Describe the cells and molecules that drive and regulate these checkpoints;
Discuss the processes used by cortical and medullary thymic epithelial cells to present a unique and broad peptide repertoire to thymocytes;
Describe the structures of the pre-BCR/TCRs and their roles in B/T cell development;
Discuss the consequences of antigen recognition at different stages of B/T cell development;
Describe the factors that regulate the generation of regulatory thymic CD4 T cells;
Discuss how key transcription factors drive B/T cell development;
Evaluate the roles of central and peripheral tolerance in generating a tolerant B/T cell repertoire.
Synopsis
Following activation, CD4+ T cells can differentiate to perform a variety of effector functions pertinent to protective immunity. In this session we will begin with a summary of CD4+ T cell activation and effector functions before looking at the molecular and cellular basis subset differentiation, activity and plasticity.
Aims
By the end of this session you should be able to describe:
Which effector CD4+ T cell subsets exist;
The requirement for T cell subsets;
The main effector functions of T cell subsets;
The molecular basis of T cell subset differentiation and regulation;
T cell subset plasticity
Synopsis
Our immune system is our principal defence against infection, but it is a double-edge sword. Inappropriate or over-exuberant immune responses can be as harmful as no response at all. Recent evidence has highlighted that the activation of immune cells is associated with dramatic changes in energy use, as the activated cells burn sugars in a frenetic attempt to fuel their rapid proliferation and increased function. Particular immune environments, such as solid tumours, impose metabolic restrictions on immune cells that limits or alters their activity. In this session, we will examine this new field of immunometabolism, and discuss how an understanding of the metabolic pathways active within immune cells can be exploited to control immune activation and function.
The session will begin with a taught summary of some of ideas and data that supported the development of the field. The second part of the session will use current papers to highlight key concepts in the field. The final part of the session will use the same papers as a tool to teach the art of writing scientific abstracts, a useful preparation for your Honours project presentations and reports.
Aims
By the end of this session you should be able to:
Describe the biosynthetic and energy demands of activated macrophages, dendritic cells and T cells;
Explain the concept of Warburg metabolism in immune cells, and discuss how well this model fits current data;
Give detailed examples of pathogen manipulation of immunometabolism, and of tissue-environment restrictions on immunometabolism; and discuss the functional consequences of such metabolic regulation;
Discuss possible medical applications of manipulating immunometabolism, including by providing both conceptual and evidence-based assessments of efficacy and danger (such as side effects).
Synopsis
This session looks at the molecular and cellular basis of T and B cell interactions, their role in the development of the germinal centre response and the importance of this phenomenon and its regulation.
Aims
By the end of this session you should be able to describe:
The cellular and molecular basis of T and B cell interactions;
The main cellular and molecular components of the germinal centre;
The hapten carrier effect;
The importance of the germinal centre response and its regulation in immunity and autoimmunity.
Synopsis
Recent years have seen an explosion in interest in rare populations of unconventional populations of lymphocytes, termed innate lymphocytes. This session will cover a range of innate lymphocytes, including innate lymphoid cells (ILC), NK T cells, T cells and MAIT cells. We will discuss the origins of these cell types and their phenotypic and functional characteristics. Many of these innate lymphocytes are strategically placed in barrier surfaces, such as the gut, lung and skin and we will consider how they are activated in these sites to contribute to protective immunity. We will also discuss how innate lymphocytes interact with other immune and tissue cells and their potential contribution to specific inflammatory disorders.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able to:
Describe the different types of innate lymphocytes and their phenotypic characteristics;
Give an account of their key locations;
Describe how they are activated and their key functions;
Describe their association with protective and pathogenic immune responses;
Describe their interactions with other leukocytes and tissue cells.
Synopsis
Building on Session 4 of the course and your ongoing efforts to write excellent News & Views articles, this two-hour session is an opportunity to discuss, with Prof Nibbs and your classmates, any difficulties you are having with, or concerns you have about, your News & Views article and the preparation of the Figure and Legend. Prof Nibbs will start by providing some general feedback on the practice News & Views articles that were submitted earlier in the semester, and reiterating key points from Session 4. You will then have the opportunity to ask any remaining questions you may have, and help answer questions raised by your classmates. After the session, you might want to let one of your classmates read the article that you are preparing for summative assessment and ask them to give you constructive, honest feedback and advice. To avoid plagiarism, unintentional or otherwise, it would probably be sensible to show your article to someone who has used a different research paper as the focus of their article. This person will probably not have read the research paper that forms the focus of your article, so may not be able provide specific comments on the content of your work, but they will be able to provide feedback on style, grammar, spelling, format, structure, readability, clarity, Figure/Legend quality etc. and this will be very important for you at this stage. These things are considered as part of the markers’ assessment of your final article. You should of course also be prepared to read one of your classmates’ articles and provide feedback and advice.
Aims
By the end of the session you should:
Have answers to any remaining questions you had about constructing News & Views articles;
Be willing to critically evaluate News & Views articles that others have written;
Request feedback from a classmate on the News & Views article you are preparing, and respond positively to any feedback you receive;
Be able to make improvements to your News and Views article prior to submission for summative assessment.
Synopsis
This session will cover two key independent but overlapping immunological fundamentals: regulatory lymphocytes and peripheral tolerance.
One of the most critical aspects of the immune system is to be able to control immune responses so that inappropriate reactions do not occur to self-antigens and harmless materials such as foods and commensal bacteria. In addition, it is essential that protective immune responses are terminated when the antigen has been eliminated, both to ensure valuable resources are not wasted and to prevent tissue damage. It is now appreciated that a population of regulatory T cells (Treg) are critical for these control processes and this session will discuss the nature of Treg, consider the ways in which they develop, and explore the mechanisms by which they function.
Another important property of the immune system is the ability to become unresponsive to specific antigens under appropriate antigens (tolerance). For most self-antigens, this is achieved by clonal deletion of specific T cells during development in the thymus, but this is unlikely to be sufficient for all self-antigens. In addition, there are certain foreign antigens such as food proteins, commensal bacteria and foetal proteins, against which it would not be appropriate to generate active immunity. These antigens therefore induce a state of peripheral tolerance in mature lymphocytes when they encounter antigen in secondary lymphoid organs. This session will consider the situations when this can occur and will discuss the mechanisms involved.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able to:
Describe the different populations of Treg that exist and how they relate to each other;
Discuss the principal mechanisms of action of Foxp3+ Treg in vivo;
Outline the mechanisms underlying the generation of Foxp3+ Treg in the thymus and secondary lymphoid organs;
Describe how plasticity within Foxp3+ Treg populations allows them to adapt appropriately to the response being controlled;
Discuss applications of Tregs;
Describe the conditions that favour the induction of peripheral tolerance;
Discuss the consequences of a failure or breakdown in peripheral tolerance;
Outline the roles of clonal deletion, clonal anergy, tolerogenic DCs and regulatory T cells in peripheral tolerance;
Describe mechanisms underpinning oral tolerance and discuss potential applications of this immunological process.