Immunology of Infectious Disease

描述(申请人提供)：传染病和免疫学的研究密切相关。所有病原体都必须至少在一段时间内与宿主的免疫反应相互作用并逃避，以建立感染和引起疾病，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了解，而免疫学的研究最终集中在检测和消除微生物病原体上。尽管这种相互作用看起来非常清楚，但实际上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”这一培训计划的目标是培养未来的科学家熟悉这两个世界，了解并将微生物学和免疫学应用于危险和新出现的病原体的研究，并采用连接这两个领域的研究策略。特别是，这对于研究有可能用于生物战的微生物制剂的免疫学和致病机理将是重要的。下一代科学家必须准备好在新出现的病原体出现时解决它们，无论是自然出现的还是在生物防御的背景下出现的。该培训计划旨在吸引最优秀的学生和博士后研究员参加这一领域的培训，将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与免疫学--联系起来。培训人员包括来自医学院、公共卫生研究生院和本科生文理学院的多个系的科学家。培训将利用我们现有研究生课程的结构，以及已经到位的(课程、研讨会系列和期刊俱乐部)。此外，为研究新出现的病原体和生物恐怖因子而设计的新课程和系列研讨会正在开发中。这一培训计划与匹兹堡大学不断发展的生物防御研究重点很好地结合在一起。我们的目标是培训科学家从微生物学和免疫学的角度研究传染病，并以创造性和实用性处理新兴或生物制剂的问题，以开发新的和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.