School of

Health & Life Science

Clinical Immunology
BIOL10008

MODULE HANDBOOK
2019/2020

INTRODUCTION
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Welcome to Clinical Immunology. Core lectures and tutorials will be delivered on Mondays.

MODULE CONTENT
This module will discuss in detail current issues and up to date technologies in Clinical Immunology. It will
also involve in-depth analysis of how the immune system is involved in disease mechanisms, including
microbial infection (bacteria, viruses, fungi, protists, helminths), hypersensitivity, autoimmune disease,
immunodeficiency, cancer immunology, transplantation and immunology of pregnancy. In addition, experts
will be invited to give seminars about their research in the clinical immunology field and working in a clinical
immunology laboratory. During this module the student will also gain valuable insight into scientific
investigation, from hypothesis, through collection of evidence to conclusive outcomes and how this shapes
the next cycle of investigation. Lecture material will be reinforced through revision tutorial sessions.

This module will work to develop a number of the key 'I am UWS' Graduate Attributes to make those who
complete this module:

Universal
 Critical Thinker
 Ethically-minded
 Research-minded

Work Ready
 Knowledgable
 Effective Communicator
 Ambitious

Successful
 Autonomous
 Resilient
 Driven

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At each lecture you will be given individual aims and objectives.

At the end of this module the student will be able to:

L1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of molecular and cellular mechanisms of the immune response to
pathogens.
L2. Detail the main mechanisms of the immune function in specific conditions (eg transplantation, pregnancy
and cancer).
L3. Demonstrate a critical understanding of adverse reactions of the immune system: autoimmune disease,
hypersensitivity, Severe Combined Immunodeficiences and Acquired Immunodeficiencies
L4. Demonstrate critical analysis of case studies, published research works and evidence reported there in.

TEACHING TEAM
The module co-ordinator is Dr. Fiona Menzies and involves several teaching staff. If you have any concerns
or queries about the module they should be addressed to Dr. Menzies. If you are still unhappy speak to your
class rep who can raise any issues through the Staff-Student liaison committee.
STAFF ROOM TELEPHONE E-MAIL

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Dr Fiona Menzies
F201 X3254 Fiona.menzies@uws.ac.uk
(Module Co-ordinator)
Prof. Fiona Henriquez F219 X3119 Fiona.henriquez@uws.ac.uk

Dr Anne Crilly F243 X3555 Anne.crilly@uws.ac.uk

 There are a number of ways to contact staff. All staff on this module operate an “open door” policy i.e. if
staff are in their office and are not too busy they will be more than happy to speak to you. It is often a
good idea to check that they are available if you are travelling in to speak to them. The easiest way to
contact staff and to get a quick reply is by email.
 Please be aware that staff are very busy and may not be able to answer your email within a few hours of
receiving it. Give them a chance to reply before contacting them again.
 No matter how you contact staff you should do so in a professional and appropriate manner. When first
engaging with staff (both within UWS and if on placement), it is best to err on the side of caution and be
formal in your interactions. Don’t address them by their forenames unless they say you can! (Most staff
are happy for you to use their forenames). Do not use text speak when writing to staff! Check spelling etc.
before pressing the “send” button! If you have arranged a meeting with a member of staff, please turn up
on time! If you adhere to the above it will help you when you start working.

PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is cheating and we will come down hard on any persons caught. Note the University’s policy in
the year handbook. If in any doubt about what constitutes plagiarism please speak to a lecturer.

ATTENDANCE
 Students are expected to attend all sessions. Attendance will be taken at each session; therefore it is
important that you remember to bring your student card to each session. Overall attendance is monitored
by the Module Coordinator. You should also not that if we are concerned with your attendance you will be
contacted by email. Failure to respond to this correspondence and improve attendance may result in your
withdrawal from the module.
 Of course, there are sometimes good reasons, such as medical or personal difficulties, that mean that
you can’t attend through no fault of your own. If that’s the case then you should fill in a self-certification
form, if your absence is for a week or less, or provide a medical certificate for more than a week’s
absence. Students on the Biomedical Science programme have attendance requirements over and above
these.
 Please arrive on time for classes. Students clattering in to a lecture room 20min after the class has
started are being discourteous to the lecturer and to the other students. Sometimes, of course, there are
unexpected delays which delay your arrival. If that happens please enter the class as quietly as possible.
If you’re late every week because your train/bus is arriving too late, then you’re catching the wrong
train/bus!
HELPING YOURSELF

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You may well have difficulties with some aspects of this module – and others! To be honest, if a module isn’t
challenging students it should have no place in a degree course.

There are ways you can help yourself.

 Attend classes! Quite apart from the fact that you’re supposed to, experience shows that students with
poor attendance records have a tendency to fail. Get help when you need it, and do so as soon as you
can. Staff are here to help you. We’re paid to do that!
 However, most of us are not mind readers and we’ll not know that you are having problems unless you
tell us. Ideally try to see staff members in person, at the end of the lecture or pop in to their office. Emails
and telephone calls are fine for simple questions but it’s a lot easier to deal with lengthier problems if
someone is sitting in front of you.
 Keep on top of your work. If you don’t understand some important point and do nothing about it for
several weeks than the chances are that that lack of understanding will make subsequent work difficult to
follow.
 Help one another. Why not get together with a group of colleagues and discuss your studies over a
coffee? Why not arrange some joint revision sessions as the class tests approach?
 Use your time sensibly. Each module is allocated 200 “student effort hours”, which means that you’re
expected to spend that number of hours of your time doing work associated with the module. Formal
teaching and exam time accounts for only ~40 hours giving ~160 hours of other time available. Some of
this will be spent doing coursework, the rest is time to make sure that you understand your lecture
material, reading around the subject, revision, and so on. Don’t leave all this work until the week before
the class test but spread it sensibly across the term.

STUDENT FEEDBACK
Module evaluation questionnaires will made available in the latter part of the module in class. It is stressed
that these form an important element of student feedback concerning the module and therefore your co-
operation in completing them is both sought and appreciated.

LATE SUBMISSION
Late submission of work will be subject to the penalties indicated in the year handbook.

READING
The lecturer has provided a list of recommended textbooks (all of which are available in the UWS library) on
Moodle, however, you should not limit your reading to just these texts. Other resources may be
th
recommended and you will be informed of these at lectures or via Moodle. In 4 year, we strongly
encourage students to also use review and research articles, published in scientific peer-reviewed journals.
These are available through databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar and Science Direct.
MOODLE SITE

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Lecture notes will be placed on the site. Please download the material in advance of lectures if available. If
you have any special educational needs please let us know in advance so that we can provide reading
materials and assistance for class tests, practical etc. We will also put revision questions and additional
material on the site to help you.

ASSESSMENT
To pass the module you must have an overall mark of 40% or greater and have an average of 30% or
greater for both the class tests and coursework.

The assessment is summarized:

Overall – 100%
CLASS TESTS - 60% COURSEWORK - 40%
2 class tests 1 research article interpretation exercise

 Class Tests - Two class tests in weeks 8 (Covering material from weeks 2-6) and 15 (covering material
from weeks 9-13). The final format of the class test consists of MCQs, short answers and essay-style
questions.
 Coursework - The coursework consists of reading, critiquing and answering questions on a research
article. Marks will be deducted for late submission. Information on deduction of marks for late submission
can be found in the course handbook.

LECTURES
Please ensure that you print off, and bring along, any material on Moodle relevant to the lecture. Or have
them downloaded onto a tablet or whatever. If you have any special educational need please let the module
co-ordinator know in advance of the lectures.

REVISION SESSION TUTORIALS

These sessions will underpin and expand upon material covered in lectures and will help prepare you for the
class tests. Please check the timetable for room number. You will either be in the group A or the group B,
and you can choose your preference. This will be posted under “Group Choice” tab on Moodle in due course.
When you choose a group, you must stick to this for all sessions, so choose carefully!

FEEDBACK
Feedback is a very important component of the learning process. When assignments are returned to you
they will be annotated with comments and these will help you improve your studies in the future. For this
reason, it is vital that you take note of any feedback given to you and use that help you prepare for exams
and coursework.

You may not be aware that you are being given feedback but it happens regularly throughout modules.
Examples include;

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• written comments on coursework (e.g. “no, x= 3b+c” or “incorrectly referenced”) Feedback

• verbal feedback on coursework and exams (e.g. “you did badly in question 2, not enough can take
detail given”) many
• verbal feedback in practical sessions (“don’t use the pipette like that, try this”) or tutorials forms!
(e.g. “you got that one wrong because you thought that……..”)
• answers to questions in tutorials, seminars and lectures.
This is by no means an exhaustive or comprehensive list and you will come across many more throughout
your studies.