Course Notes & other materials

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Week 1: 30 Aug
Week 2: 6 Sept
Week 3: 13 Sept
Week 4: 20 Sept
Week 5: 27 Sept
Week 6: 4 Oct
Week 7: 11 Oct
Week 8: 18 Oct
Week 9: 25 Oct
Week 10: 1 Nov
Week 11: 8 Nov
Week 12: 15 Nov
Week 13: 22 Nov
Week 14: 29 Nov

News & information

Halloween 2016: I've made a short video about T-dependent and T-independent B cell responses, and how they are involved in conjugate vaccines as well as autoimmunity of the type seen in celiac disease.

6 July 2016: An advisory committee to the CDC concluded that the nasal flu vaccine, FluMist®, has been essentially ineffective for the last 3 years. The CDC recommends against its use in the 2016-7 flu season.

2 August 2015: A trial of the Ebola vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV developed in Canada was halted early because it had exceeded its efficacy predictions, with (apparant) 100% protection of immunized contacts of diagnosed Ebola patients. The de-facto control groups were contacts who refused or had to delay immunization.

30 July 2015: Nigeria, the last country in Africa to report a new case of polio, has this week been free of polio for a year, an amazing result considering the difficulties faced by immunizers in the remote districts. This leaves polio only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

11 August 2014: The two Americans with Ebola infections were treated with a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies against the virus, specific for the Zaire strain. Some angry (and thoughtless) people in the Twitterverse have asked why the "rich Americans" got the special treatment, not the poor of Africa. The answer's simple: these agents have never been used in people, and might have proved harmful or lethal; that would have been catastrophic in Africa. The medically-trained American patients understood the risk they were taking.

3 July 2014: California's whooping cough (pertussis) “epidemic has escalated...with 4,558 cases reported this year as of Tuesday — 1,100 of those in the last two weeks.” Of the cases in 2014 so far, “3,614, or 84%, have occurred in patients 18 or younger,” and of the “142 illnesses that required hospitalization, 89, or 63%, were in infants four months or younger.” Authorities urge all pregnant women in the 3rd trimester to get immunized.

16 June 2014: The FDA has approved a $1 bilion Novartis plant in North Carolina to manufacture FluCelVax, their new flu vaccine, the first approved (2012) to be made in cell culture rather than eggs. The new process takes weeks instead of months. Ironically, Novartis is looking to get out of the vaccine business.

After a while, News and Information items are archived.

Brief Bio of JJC. This is me:Picture of JJ Cohen

Why is this course on line where anyone can read it?

Instructor: J. John Cohen, MDCM, PhD
IMMU 7630 will be offered in the fall semester of 2016.

The course will run 30 August to 29 November 2016.
Tuesdays 1-3 PM (1300-1500 h)

Students in a degree program are enrolled by that program; we'd be grateful if you emailed us to tell us you'll be joining us (since we don't find out any other way until late in the process). Non-degree students (PRAs, for example) need JJ Cohen's permission and signature to register; please drop him an email. The forms for you to register are on line; click Prospective Students, then Apply and then the CU Anschutz Non-Degree Students button.

Auditors are welcome, also with permission; please let JJ know your interest before the course starts.

IMMU 7630 is a course in human-based immunology designed for graduate students, clinicians, and others who are not necessarily immunologists. It considers the broad sweep of immunology and its relationships to other disciplines, focusing on ideas and concepts more than details. Sufficient clinical examples are included to establish relevance, and widely-used immunologically-based methods are discussed. We practice clear communication by constructing and maintaining a blog to which we all contribute. These course notes serve as our textbook. Scroll down for pdf files of each Unit, which corresponds to about an hour of class. Look at the files and decide if you want to print them in B&W or (expensive) color. This site is continuously revised and updated.
Crucial advice: Always read the notes before coming to class!

There's no required text. If you want to consider buying a text, click here for 2016 recommendations.
Essential to read: Syllabus, with rules, course organization, grading, schedule, and advice: You can download a hard copy.
Students requiring special accomodations: speak to JJC, and click here.
Information about UCD faculty and staff tuition waivers here.

2016 Course Schedule

(printable version)

Week
Date
Unit
Topic
1 30 Aug 1 Introduction to Course & Immunology
2 Innate to Adaptive Immunity
2 6 Sept 3 Anatomy & Physiology of the Immune System
    4 Antibody Structure
3 13 Sept 5 Antibody Genes
    6 Antibody Function
4 20 Sept 7 Monoclonal Antibodies and Antibody Techniques
    8 Ontogeny of the Immune System
5 27 Sept 9 T Cells
    10 T Cells
6 4 Oct 11 Immunogenetics & Transplantation
    12 Resistance, Immunity & Vaccines
7 11 Oct 13 MIDTERM TEST
    14 MIDTERM TEST
8 18 Oct 15 Immunodeficiencies
    16 Immunology of AIDS
9 25 Oct 17 Immunopathology Type III: Immune Complex Disease
    18 Immunopathology Type II: Autoimmunity
10 1 Nov 19 Immunopathology Type I: Allergy & Parasite Immunity
    20 Immunopathology Type IV: T Cell Mediated
11 8 Nov 21 Chronic Frustrated Immune Responses & Regulation
    22 Immunohematology
12 15 Nov 23 Tumor Immunology
    24 Immunomodulators and Biological Response Modifiers
13 22 Nov 25 Lymphomas, New Developments & Ideas
    26 Overview & Review
14 29 Nov 27 FINAL TEST
    28 FINAL TEST