This course explores the tools microbes use to break through our barriers and the perfect combination of factors that give them the opportunity to cause diseases. We discuss how even non-living agents like viruses exhibit the same biological impulse to replicate and spread. You’ll also learn about how human history has been molded by major epidemics and a brief introduction to the defenses our bodies have used to save us from annihilation.
Prerequisites: Basic fundamentals of animal biology (cell theory, evolution, genetics) recommended.
This course aligns with Neurological Disorders Unit 1 of the Great Diseases high school curriculum.
Graduate Credits: 0.5, $150
Continuing Education Units: 2, $50
This course is about brains. It aligns with Unit 2 of the ND high school curriculum.
Graduate Credits: 0.50 Credits, $150
Continuing Education Units: 2, $50
In this mini-course, we will investigate the network of tools the body deploys to protect the body from pathogens. You will learn about the complex barriers that are responsible for keeping pathogens outside the body. Then, we will discuss to how the two branches of the immune system work together to eliminate any invader that manages to break through those barriers. First, we'll discuss the innate immune system, which can quickly react to any invading pathogen and stops most pathogens before they can establish an infection. Then, we will explore the adaptive immune system, which grants long term immunity.
Prerequisites: It is recommended that students have a general understanding of cell biology (how cells use receptors to sense their environment and communicate) and microbiology (general bacterial structure and virulence factors). "BIED201: Why should we care about infectious disease?" is recommended but not required.
This course aligns with Infectious Disease Unit 5: How do we get better? from the Great Diseases high school curriculum.
Graduate Credits: 1.0, $300
Continuing Education Units: 3, $75