Immunology of Infectious Disease

描述（申请人提供）：传染病和免疫学的研究是密切相关的。所有病原体都必须与宿主免疫反应相互作用并逃避，至少在一段时间内，才能建立感染并引起疾病，免疫系统的存在主要是为了抵御入侵者，主要是微生物。因此，传染病的研究必须包括对宿主反应的理解，而免疫学的研究最终以检测和消除微生物剂为中心。尽管这种相互作用似乎非常清楚，但在实践中，研究微生物的研究人员并不总是对免疫学有很好的了解，反之亦然。“传染病免疫学”培训计划的目标是培养未来的科学家在两个世界中都感到舒适，理解并应用微生物学和免疫学来研究危险和新出现的病原体，并采用桥梁这两个领域的研究策略。特别是，这对于有可能用于生物战的微生物制剂的免疫学和发病机制的研究将是重要的。下一代科学家必须准备好应对新出现的病原体，无论是自然出现的还是在生物防御背景下出现的。该培训计划旨在吸引最优秀的学生和博士后研究员在该领域进行培训，连接跨学科生物医学研究生计划中的两个项目，分子病毒学和微生物学和免疫学。培训教员包括来自医学院、公共卫生研究生院和文理本科学院众多系的科学家。培训将利用我们现有的研究生项目结构，以及现有的课程、系列研讨会和期刊俱乐部。此外，为研究新出现的病原体和生物恐怖剂而设计的新课程和研讨会系列正在开发中。这个培训项目与匹兹堡大学不断发展的生物防御研究相结合。我们的目标是培养科学家从微生物学和免疫学的角度来研究传染病，并以创造性和实用性来处理新兴或生物战剂的问题，以开发新颖有效的治疗和预防策略。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The study of infectious diseases and immunology is intimately linked. All pathogens must interact with and evade the host immune response, at least for some period of time, to establish infection and cause disease, the immune system exists primarily to fend off intruders, primarily microbes. Therefore, the study of (infectious disease must include an understanding of the host responses, and the study of immunology ultimately centers on detecting and eliminating microbial agents. Although this interaction seems very clear, in practice researchers studying microbes have not always had a comfortable knowledge of immunology, and vice versa. It is the goal of this Training Program in "Immunology of Infectious Disease" to train future scientists to feel comfortable in both worlds, to understand and apply microbiology and immunology to the study of dangerous and emerging pathogens, and to employ research strategies that bridge both fields. In particular, this will be important for research on the immunology and pathogenesis of microbial agents that have the potential to be used in biological warfare. The next generation of scientists must be ready to address emerging and new pathogens as they arise, either naturally or in the context of biodefense. This Training Program is designed to attract the very best students and post-doctoral fellows for training in this area, linking two programs within the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Graduate Program, Molecular Virology and Microbiology and Immunology. The training faculty includes scientists from numerous departments in the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Public Health, and the Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and (Sciences. Training will take advantage of the structure of our existing graduate programs, as well as (courses, seminar series, and journal clubs already in place. In addition, new courses and seminar series designed for study of emerging pathogens and bioterror agents are in development. This training program interfaces well with the evolving emphasis on biodefense research here at the University of Pittsburgh. Our goal is to train scientists to study infectious diseases from both the microbiologic and immunologic perspectives, and to approach problems of emerging or biowarfare agents with creativity and practicality for development of novel and effective treatment and prevention strategies.