The course will cover a range of key techniques in infection biology, including the rationale behind the use of both currently employed and emerging technologies. A variety of methods used to treat, monitor and identify parasite and pathogen infections will be used. The students will be presented with overviews and practical experience of technologies such as ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi), immunocytochemistry (ICC), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the McMaster technique, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), bioinformatics and endoparasite egg and vector identification. All appropriate risk assessment and measures to deal with biosafety issues pertaining to the module delivery and practical components are in place.
The course will cover a range of diverse internationally relevant diseases/infections. Their impact on human, plant and animal health will be discussed as will the current challenges faced in terms of their control in light of abiotic and biotic factors.
The course will cover key facets of parasite biology including: drug action and resistance; drug discovery and drug target validation; vaccine development; host-parasite interactions; parasite induced pathology; parasite genomics/transcriptomics/proteomics; parasite functional genomics; parasite behaviour and neurobiology.