Uaeb Workshop Series I Applied Immunology

AY2015/2016 Semester 2

In this module, students will be tasked to design and perform experiments to identify phenotypes of different strains of knock-out mice that are immune compromised. Students will need to have a good background in immunology (hence the pre-requisite of BS2007) for this module. At the start of each day, a seminar will be presented by the faculty in-charge to allow students to understand the rationale of the 5-day mini-project and to recap on the principles of different methods to be used. Students will then design the experiments and discuss with the faculty in-charge and teaching assistants before performing the experiments. For the experiments, students will need to isolate cells from lymphoid organs of these mice. Students will need to prepare blood smears of these cells and examine them under the microscope. Students will also need to perform immunostaining of these cells and determine their surface markers by flow cytometry analyses. In addition, students will perform ELISA assays to assess the antibody response in these mice that have been injected with antigens. PCR genotyping will also be performed on these mice. At the end of every day, students will need to collate and discuss their data with the faculty in-charge. This will be conducted in the SMART classrooms. At the end of the course, students will need to submit a report and make presentations that will be graded by the faculty in-charge.