INFECTION AND IMMUNITY: AN OVERVIEW OF THE HUMAN HOST DEFENSE

In the past half century the science of immunology has exploded.  It is difficult for professionals, no less for laymen, to keep pace with its progress.  For some seniors, what is now taught to their grandchildren in elementary biology may seem a new language.  We might try to catch up!  How do we protect ourselves from invasive microorganisms?  What is the role of inflammation?  What are the mechanisms of immunity?  How do vaccines work?  How do we distinguish what is foreign from our own tissues?  What is the potential of immunization?

This course is designed as a primer to promote better public understanding of a rapidly advancing medical science, one that is ever more profoundly affecting medical practice and human health.  Format:  Lectures and class discussion.

Course outline:

1. The anatomy of the host defense. How are we structured to fight infection?
2. Innate and Adaptive Immunity. What do we have naturally and what do we acquire?
3. Cellular and Humoral Immunity. B cells, T cells, Antigen-presenting cells, antibodies.
4.  Self-recognition (clonal selection). What is recognized as foreign?
5. Immunization. Active and passive immunity.  Types of immunity.
6. Current Vaccines. Potential for new ones.
7. Organ Transplantation and infection.
8. Disorders of Immunity: Immune deficiency diseases, Allergy, Autoimmunity.

Class is limited to 20 members.

GENE STOLLERMAN is a graduate of Dartmouth College (1941) and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons (1944). His life’s research has been on the prevention of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease and other diseases due to streptococcal infections. He served for a decade as Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University, 17 years as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Tennessee, and 15 years as Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Boston University. During the last five years of this tenure he served as Distinguished Physician to the Department of Veterans Affairs, accepting Emeritus status in 1995 to retire to Hanover.