Neuroimmunology Seminar

This seminar class will explore the interactions between the nervous and immune systems. Because immunology is not a common undergraduate course, we will start the semester with an overview of immunology foundations: the cells, chemicals, and organs of the immune system, immunological communication and memory, and the innate and adaptive response systems. We will then read scientific journal articles to understand how the immune system modulates development and function of the nervous system, how homeostasis between the brain and the immune system is maintained, and how immunological response to infection and injury can result in neuropathology. We will conclude with an examination of how disseminated tumor cells can breach the blood-brain barrier to seed metastatic brain cancer.