Imin 401 – Comparative Immunology - 2013
Tues & Thurs.
1100 – 1220 ED-106 (lectures) all Thursdays
& another classroom – most Tuesdays for paper discussions
Overview – Immunology is generally taught from the perspective of the immune system
operating in a laboratory mouse – essentially a snapshot of the immune response of one
organism to a given disease. In reality, changing pathogens, disease outbreaks or even low
grade endemic diseases can and do exert evolutionary pressures on the immune system and
on host species. Over the evolutionary span of the eukaryotes this has led to an impressively
diverse array of immune response systems between species or groups of organisms. This
course will examine some of the diversity and evolutionary trends of immune responses to
pathogens in plants, invertebrates and vertebrates.
Course layout – Each Thursday there will be a lecture and at the end of the lecture one or two
papers from the primary literature on that topic will be assigned for reading (over the weekend)
and subsequent discussion during the Tuesday class.
There is no text book for the course though you may find the book chapter below provides a
good overview to the second half of the course:
Lectures will cover material taken from the primary literature and references will be provided
for each of the papers used in the preparation of a given lecture.
Lectures & papers will be available on a password protected website:
http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/courses/imin401/
Username/ID: imin401
Password: 401lectures
Instructors:
Dr. Brad Magor
Dr. Kathy Magor
CW-323
CW-326
bmagor@ualberta.ca
kmagor@ualberta.ca
492-5956
492-5498
We have no set office hours – stop by our labs or e-mail us to make an appointment. See Dr.
Brad Magor for questions about course administration, etc
Grading:
25 % participation in discussions of primary literature
30 % mid term exam (Feb. 14th) – no deferrals
45 % final exam - cumulative
Exams - There will be no deferred mid term exam – if you miss the mid term your final exam
will count for 75 %. Deferred final exams will be oral exams.
Participation grades – each student will be expected to have fully read and at least tried to
comprehend the assigned literature before the following (Tuesday) class. During class
students can volunteer, or will be randomly chosen, to comment on aspects of the paper.
Grades will be based on preparedness, solicited and unsolicited contributions to discussion,
and general discourse during lecture. A midterm evaluation of your performance will be given.
Grading will emphasize post-midterm performance.
Outline of Lectures and Paper discussions:
Jan. 8th
Jan. 10th
Jan 15th
Jan. 17th
Jan. 22nd
Jan 24th
Jan. 29th
Jan. 31st
Feb. 5th
Feb. 7th
Feb. 12th
Feb 14th
Feb 18 – 22
Course introduction; The nature & necessity of immunity & resistance
Host-Pathogen interdependence & co-evolution
Paper(s) #1
Innate immunity – self/non-self vs. responses to danger signals
Paper(s) #2
Innate Immunity –Toll-like signaling systems from plants to mammals
Paper(s) #3
Innate Immunity – anti-microbial peptides; RNA interference
Paper(s) #4
Invertebrate complement, coagulation & phenoloxidase systems
Paper(s) #5
Mid term exam – in class ED-106
Reading Week
Feb. 26th
Evolutionary origins of adaptive immunity (paper discussed on March 6th)
Feb. 28th
Evolution of antibody forms and isotypes
Mar. 5th
Paper(s) #6
Mar. 7th
Generation of antibody repertoires, including gene conversion
th
Mar. 12
Paper(s) #7
Mar. 14th
Origins of allorecognition and the MHC
Mar. 19th
MHC Polymorphism
Mar. 21st
MHC genome organization and evolution of the MHC loci
Mar. 26th
Paper(s) #8
Mar. 28th
NK-cell like receptors – evolution in mammals
Apr. 2nd
Paper(s) #9
Apr. 4th
NK-cell like receptors – early evolution
Apr. 9th
Paper(s) #10
Apr. 11th
Hodgepodge - students choice
Final Exam is Thursday April 17th at 9:00 am
Location – TBA