Catalog description: Survey of medical microbiology, focusing
on the biological requirements for bacterial pathogenicity.
Pre-requisites: Consent of instructor.
Expanded description and explanation: Bacterial pathogenicity
depends on five basic biological requirements that include attachment to
a host surface, entry into host tissues, multiplication in the in vivo
environment, interference with host defense mechanisms, and damage to the
host. This course will examine the types and regulation of virulence factors
that enable bacteria to accomplish these requirements. The molecular basis
for clonality (not all strains of a particular pathogen are equally virulent),
the role of mobile genetic elements in horizontal transmission of virulence
factors, and the contribution of dead end evolution to increased pathogenicity
will also be examined. The teaching format will involve lectures and paper
discussions.
This course represents the second course in a 3-course sequence (GMS 6038, GMS
6039 and GMS 6040) dealing with medical microbiology, with the
emphasis on the biological requirements of bacterial pathogenicity. The
first course focuses on the genetics and physiology of bacteria, their
use as research tools, and the role of bacteria in causing disease. The
third course focuses on the host response and the subsequent evasion of
that response by pathogens.
Evaluation of student performance: One final examination (80%),
and 2-4 homework problems (20%).
Faculty: Dr. Jeff Hillman
will be the Director for this course. He will be assisted in the peresentation
of material to the students by various Graduate Faculty of the Colleges
of Medicine and Dentistry.
Assigned Reading: Readings will be assigned from the research
literature from journals such as Journal of Bacteriology, Nature and Science.
Course Objectives: The objective of this course is to provide
the student with a comprehensive overview of medically important bacterial
pathogens and their relationships with their hosts.