Module manager: Dr Martin Stacey
Email: M.Stacey@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This module is not approved as a discovery module
The purpose of this module is to provide a detailed molecular and cellular knowledge of the immune system. The module will focus on human health, including topics ranging from infectious disease, diseases caused by immune dysregulation and immune involvement in tumour biology. The molecular and cellular insight of this module will provide the basis for understanding current and future therapeutic targeting strategies of infectious pathogens and immune associated diseases. The module will cover the following aspects of medical immunology: - Immune response to intracellular pathogens - Immune response to extracellular pathogens - Auto-inflammatory Diseases - Allergic Diseases - Autoimmune Diseases - Transplantation - Neuroimmunology - Immunosuppression - Cancer Immunology - Infectious diseases in the immunocompromised host - Immunity to parasites - Mucosal Immunity - Immunisation - Immunotherapy.
The module objectives are:
- To obtain a deeper insight into how the different components of the human immune system work together to combat infection.
- To comprehend how dysregulation, malfunction or suppression of parts of the immune system cause diseases.
- To obtain an insight into therapeutic approaches which target immunologically important molecules
- Apply the knowledge gained from different disease scenarios in the application of appropriate therapeutic strategies for different disease types.
Learning activities will be focussed on in-person large-group interactive lectures. These will be supplemented with online learning resources for students to evaluate their understanding of concepts as part of their independent study. This will include revision question banks for all topics in the same style as the summative assessment.
The module also aims to foster more active engagement with the primary research literature, in preparation for Year 3 (Level 6) study; to that end, the additional reading the students are directed towards will frequently include recently published research papers.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes:
1- Describe the molecular and cellular basis of how the different components of the human immune system work together to combat infection by different groups of pathogens.
2- Explain how dysregulation, malfunction or suppression of parts of the immune system cause common autoinflammatory, auto-immune disease and other diseases.
3- Evaluate therapeutic approaches that target infectious and non-infectious diseases and apply knowledge of the molecular and cellular immune system to identify future potential therapeutic strategies for targeting immune-associated disease.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4- Evaluate information from appropriate literature and lecture resources and synthesise well-structured written work integrating and explaining the concepts of the immune system and immune-targeted therapy
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Lecture | 18 | 1 | 18 |
| Private study hours | 80 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 100 | ||
This module will provide continual formative feedback via in-class active learning from in-person teaching. A formative exercise with a timetabled feedback session will prepare students for the summative exam. Revision question banks will be provided for all topics to support the end-of-module summative assessment. A revision session will be provided in the lead-up to the end-of-module exam. In addition, a discussion forum will be established on Minerva for student queries.
| Exam type | Exam duration | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc) | 2.0 Hrs 0 Mins | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Exams) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 14/05/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team