Molecular Immunology Saverio Minucci General informations PPT slides

Molecular Immunology Saverio Minucci

General informations • PPT slides – home page: http: //users. unimi. it/minucci/index. htm – Click on “didattica” : • http: //users. unimi. it/minucci/didattica. htm – Anche su ARIEL • Exams: – team presentation of articles related to the topics discussed during the lessons – 1 written test at the end of the course (open essay: 1 topic of your choice, 1 topic chosen by me) • Official books: none – Abbas/Lichtman (Basic Immunology- or italian translation) – Pier/Lyczak/Wetzler (Immunology, infection and immunity –or italian translation) – Whatever… • X info: – saverio. minucci@ieo. it o saverio. minucci@unimi. it – Fabio. santoro@ieo. it – alessandra. marinelli@guest. unimi. it

A few questions for you… • What’s the difference between innate and adaptive immunity? – What can you say about innate immunity • Describe phagocytosis – How is the phagocyte attracted by its target? • How many types of adaptive immune responses do you know? • Can you give me one example of passive immunity?

Let’s define together the cardinal features of adaptive immune responses • • Specificity Diversity Memory Non reactivity to self

Adaptive immune response • What is a “naïve” T (or B) cell? • How is it that immune cells are able to avoid killing “self” cells? • What is the difference between a CD 4+ and a CD 8+ cell? • Which is the cell that is the main producer of antibodies?

Lymphocytes • What’s the CD nomenclature? • What is the main difference among B and T lymphocytes? • Which are the main classes of effector T lymphocytes? • What is an APC? What’s the name of the most important class of APCs?

Phases of adaptive response • Antigen recognition • Lymphocyte activation • Effector Phase

Response to infective agents: an example

Topics to be addressed in the course • • • Vaccinations Immunodeficiencies Autoimmune diseases Allergy Microbiota Cancer immunotherapy

Presentation • Be “sharp” • In general, calculate 20’ max to discuss each article-review • Coordinate your work with the colleagues discussing the other papers • Ideally, the paper should be the stimulus to read also other papers….

How to structure the presentation • Reviews – Define the scope of the review – Define the biological problem tackled • Try to explain why it is important – Summarize the main findings described – Summarize what is in your opinion the “core message” of the review, what did you get out of it

How to structure the presentation • Article – Summarize the main findings – Why did the authors start this study? – Which are the key technologies used? – Describe the main results • Study the figures, try to find “weaknesses” in the paper – Summarize the conclusions • Does this paper in your opinion represent an incremental increase of our knowledge, or is it a ”great” paper, innovative in its field? – What did you get out of it