Immunotechnology

Course unit

title

Scientific direction

Scientific code

Faculty

Department (s)

Immunotechnology

Chemical Engineering T 005

Life Sciences Center

Institute of Biotechnology

Course (module) volume in credits

9

Mode of studies

Number of credits

Mode of studies

Number of credits

Lectures

0

Consultations

1,5

Self-studies

6

Seminars

1,5

Aims of course

To acquire knowledge about the function of the immune system, about the interfaces between immunology and biotechnology, and about modern technologies that help to create or modulate the desired immune response.

Main topics

Innate and adaptive immunity. Components of innate immunity, their functions. MHC system. MHC genes and molecules, their properties, functions. Antigen processing and presentation in class I and II MHC molecules. Antigen-presenting cells, their properties and functions. T and B lymphocytes, their receptors, antigen recognition features. Genes of T and B lymphocyte receptors. Formation of lymphocyte repertoire, V(D)J recombination. T lymphocytes, their properties and functions. Populations of effector T lymphocytes. B lymphocytes. Immunoglobulins, their structure and functions. Molecular mechanisms of immunoglobulin affinity maturation and class switching. Mechanisms of immune tolerance. Central and peripheral tolerance of T and B lymphocytes. Autoimmune reactions and their causes. Mechanisms of type I, II, III and IV hypersensitivity reactions. Immunity against tumors. The role of regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) in the anti-tumor response. Modern methods of cancer immunotherapy. Dendritic cell vaccines, their action. Biopharmaceutical antibodies and their application, technologies of their development CAR T cell technology. Immunoassays, their application in biotechnology and diagnostics. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunoblotting, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical analysis. Flow cytometry. Serological methods for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. Hybridoma technology. Recombinant antibodies. Technologies of antibody engineering. Chimeric antibodies, humanized antibodies, single-chain antibody fragments, bispecific antibodies. Technologies of vaccine development. Types of vaccines: attenuated, inactivated, subunit vaccines, RNA, DNA vaccines. Adjuvants, their properties. Recombinant vaccines. Virus-like particles as carriers for target epitopes. Modern vaccinology. Vaccine efficacy and safety studies.

Main literature

A.K. Abbas, A. H. Lichtman, S. Pillai. Cellular and molecular immunology. 9th edition, 2017,  Elsevier/Saunders

P. J. Deives, S. J. Martin, D. R. Burton, I. M. Roitt. Roitt’s Essentials Immunology. 13th edition, 2017, Willey-Blackwell Publ.

papildomiWaldman, A.D., Fritz, J.M. & Lenardo, M.J. A guide to cancer immunotherapy: from T cell basic science to clinical practice. Nat Rev Immunol 20, 651–668 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-020-0306-5

Chen WC and Murawsky CM (2018) Strategies for Generating Diverse Antibody Repertoires Using Transgenic Animals Expressing Human Antibodies. Front. Immunol. 9:460. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00460

Varadé, J., Magadán, S. & González-Fernández, Á. Human immunology and immunotherapy: main achievements and challenges. Cell Mol Immunol (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-020-00530-6

M. Steinitz (Ed.). Human Monoclonal Antibodies. Methods and Protocols. 2nd edition, 2019, pp 483, ISBN: 978-1-4939-8957-7. Springer Science Business Media, New York, NY, USA

Assessment strategy

Assessment criteria

Exam  

The exam consists of the evaluation of theoretical knowledge (test) and a seminar (scientific report) on a chosen topic.

The theoretical knowledge of the PhD student is tested by answering 20-30 open questions from the entire immunotechnology course. Only those PhD students who answer more than 80 percent of the theoretical questions correctly are permitted to prepare the seminar.

A public scientific lecture is prepared for the seminar, in which at least 5 recent scientific articles are summarized. Duration of the presentation - 40-45 min.

After the presentation, the PhD student answers the questions of the commission and the audience.

Evaluation criteria: the content of the lecture, the quality of presentation and answers to questions.

Aurelija Žvirblienė

Dovilė Stravinskienė

Dr.

Dr.

prof.

Approved by the Council of Graduate School of Life Sciences Center No 600000-…-… on the …. of …… 2021

Chairman