Activities and Methodology

The subject of Immunology consists of theoretical classes, classroom practices and tutorials. The following describes the organization and the teaching methodology that will be followed in these training activities.

Lectures

The content of the theory program will be covered in 30 sessions in the form of master classes with audiovisual support. Lectures will be available online on the Virtual Campus (CV). A list of reference materials available at the library is provided in the bibliography section of this Teaching Syllabus, as well as internet links where relevant videos and animations will be available for students to reinforce or clarify contents offered in the lectures.


Classroom Practicals

For these sessions, the group will be divided into two subgroups, GBT1-IMM and GBT2-IMM, with an approximate number of 40 students per group. A total of 13 sessions per group are programmed that will include the following activities:

1.- Seminars of experimental techniques (TE) (2 sessions).

For these seminars the group will be divided into two subgroups of approximately 40 students each.
Immunology is an experimental science and therefore one of the objectives of the subject is for the student to acquire the skills necessary to understand a research project. Therefore, lectures, discussions and problems solving related to the techniques presented will be carried out. Exams will include questions about these seminars. Further, knowing these techniques will be necessary for the development of the research project.

The scheduled sessions and the specific aims are:  

- TE1 (1h), to deepen in the antigen-antibody interaction and its use as an antigen-specific detection system in different substrates. The immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, ELISAand ELISPOT techniques will be analyzed.

- TE2 (1h), aims to study the cellular immune response using techniques to determine the functionality of different subpopulations of T lymphocytes. Tests will be described to measure cell proliferation and cytotoxicity using flow cytometry, among others.

2.- Research project development seminars (DPR) (4 sessions).

For these seminars the group will be divided into 4 subgroups with approximately 20 students per group. This will be a cooperative learning activity, so students will organize into five-members Work Groups to be established at the beginning of the semester.

The aim of these seminars is to help consolidate the contents previously worked on in the theory classes and allow the integration of this knowledge in the development of a research project to solve a real problem. The current bibliography on the problem will be sought, a hypothesis and objectives and a methodology will be proposed to respond to the objectives set.

To achieve this goal, 4 seminars will be scheduled for each subgroup in the first of which the project to be developed will be proposed and the aspects that will be developed by each of the working groups (5 members) will be distributed. The development of the project proposal will involve the search for theoretical and experimental information in public databases. On the following sessions the students will share the information gathered, the doubts will be raised and solved and the strategies developed by each working group will be discussed. Therefore, participation in the discussion is one of the criteria used for the evaluation of this activity.

3.- Research project presentation seminars (PPR) (2 sessions).

The aim of these seminars is to present the research project developed by each of the 4 subgroups. The starting hypothesis, the experimental design and the expected results will be presented so that they can be discussed with the rest of the subgroups. Students will present the project with audiovisual support. The presentation will be evaluated by the teacher and the other Working Groups. The final score of the presentation will be the average of the assessment of each member of the group and therefore their presence on the seminars is required. The contribution of other students of the course to the discussion will also be valued and therefore their attendance at these sessions is required. A minimum attendance of 80% of these seminars is required to be evaluated.

4.- Self-assessment (2 sessions)
A self assessment session will be programmed  at the end of blocks I and IV. Model exams will be uploaded onto the CV that will be solved during these session. Correct and incorrect options will be discussed.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.