Module: 3
Sponsoring Program: BMS
Administrator: Priscilla Pereira

STUDY LIST INFORMATION
Course Number: BMS 270
Course Name: Babies, Bugs and the Immune System
Units: 3
Grading Option: S/U
Course Director: Tifany Scharschmidt

MORE COURSE INFORMATION
Other faculty: Joanna Halkias, Sara Suliman, Rachel Rutishauser, Susan Lynch
Dates: May 17 - June 2
Campus: PH
Location: N-517
Schedule: W/Th 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, F (5/19, 6/2) 1:00 - 3:00 pm, F (5/26) 9:00 - 11:00 am
Minimum Class Size: 4
Maximum Class Size: 12

Early life is a time of rapid immune education, which takes place in the context of many new microbial exposures. Microbe-host crosstalk is relevant to human health across the lifespan, but is unique and particularly significant in this developmental window. In this course, we’ll explore our current understanding of the biological principles and mechanisms underpinning early life microbe-immune interactions and their relationship to health and disease. Participating faculty have a breath of expertise in this area which spans immune development, gut and skin microbiome biology, infectious diseases, systems immunology, machine learning and more. In each session a faculty member with present briefly on some of their research relevant to this topic area followed by a journal club discussion of a related piece of primary literature. We’ll close with a collective reflection exercise on what we feel are some of the most exciting avenues for future research in this field.