Food-Borne Pathogens and Vaccines (U01239)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : BIO-4-BTpath

This module links two related issues: (1) food and water-borne infection is a major contributor to infectious diseases (2) Potentially the levels of infectious disease could be radically diminished by better and more widespread use of vaccines. These features are explored in greater depth within the module and a fuller outline follows.

Food- and water-borne infections. In the UK alone, around 100 000 cases of food poisoning from food- borne pathogens, have been recorded during the last 5 years. This pattern is parallelled throughout all developed countries and results in a huge financial drain on world economy. Understanding the factors that underpin survival and transmission of pathogens in the food chain is important for devising effective means for reducing the incidence of food poisoning. An increasing biological knowledge of virulence factors and of microbial genomes is facilitating this task. In this module specific examples of major food poisoning organisms will be examined with a view to showing how further improvements in public health might be achieved through a comprehensive knowledge of microbial physiology.

Vaccine development: Vaccination is a major factor which has reduce death from infectious diseases in the developed countries. Yet, infectious diseases remain the major cause of death on a world scale. Moreover emergence of drug resistance is limiting drug-based, clinical intervention. If this situation is to be altered, there is a need for the development of new and better vaccines, as well as for their wider implementation. This part of the module explores the logic and success of traditional vaccine development strategies but also explores how the power of molecular knowledge and genomic technologies might be harnessed towards the rational design of new vaccines. Issues such as how drug resistance arises or how adjuvants can be used to bias and enhance the effectiveness of vaccination are also addressed.

Entry Requirements

? Prohibited combinations : Permission of the Curriculum Approval Officer. Recommended: Immunology 3 OR Medical Microbiology 3 OR Biotechnology 3

? Costs : Notepads

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Biotechnology, (School of Biological Sciences, Schedule K)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 5 hour(s) 30 minutes per week for 5 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	09:00	09:50	KB
Lecture	Tuesday	11:10	12:00	KB
Lecture	Thursday	09:00	09:50	KB
Lecture	Thursday	11:10	12:00	KB

? Additional Class Information : Vaccines component starts on tuesday 10th January at 9 a.m. in Swann 7.14.
Food pathogens component starts on thursday 12th January at 9 a.m. in Swann 7.14.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

- Provision of insight into the major food-borne pathogens of current concern and of factors which contribute to their virulence.
- Development of an appreciation of the basis and importance of rapid detection systems for bacteria and, the use of modern genomic, molecular and immunological techniques in their study.
- Understanding of the logic of traditional vaccine isolation strategies
- Provision of a foundation for how novel approaches are being applied at different stages of the vaccine development process.
- Development of an understanding of the basic principles which underpin adjuvant activities.