Advanced immunology

Description

Master 2 students from partner Universities (Sorbonne University and University of Paris Cité) MUST NOT register online and must submit their registration request DIRECTLY to contacts in charge of their university course. These students have free access to the course.

All other students must register online and pay their registration fees.

The course comprises:

LABORATORY PRACTICAL COURSE: Three weeks (full time)

Monitoring human immune responses

Immuno-monitoring is nowadays performed through a variety of molecular and cellular approaches, involving an array of cutting-edge technologies. This is key for human translational medicine studies on infectious diseases, epidemic outbreaks, vaccine trials, vaccination follow up, etc.

The goal of this practical course is to introduce students to investigate a research subject through a variety of state of the art experimental approaches, and to sensitize them to translational medicine studies.

Taking advantage of the Institut Pasteur Center for Translational Science and the Milieu Intérieur Laboratory of Excellence Consortium, this practical course will focus on the characterization of age-dependent differences in the immune response of healthy individuals, in the presence or absence of chronic cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. The response of each individual to an array of immune stimuli, targeting innate or adaptive immunity, will be investigated by immunophenotyping whole human blood samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). A battery of approaches will be used, including multi-color flow cytometry, imaging flow cytometry, real-time PCR, RNA-sequencing, simple and multiplex ELISA. In addition, a subset of immune cells will be sorted and analyzed for the influence of immune stimulation on their metabolic activity. The students will have access to cutting-edge technologies and data analysis pipelines available at the Cytometry and Biomarkers UTechS of the Center for Translational Science CRT technology Cores of the Institut Pasteur.

Sponsors: We thank the LabEx Milieu Intérieur for financial support and FlowJo-LLC for making available Flow Cytometry Analysis Software

LECTURES:  Two weeks (full time). 

Lectures given by internationaly renowned speakers will deal with advanced studies on major topics in cellular and molecular immunology, such as: development of the immune system, lymphocyte differentiation, molecular basis of antigen recognition by B and T lymphocytes, tolerance, immune cell communication and dynamics, immune responses, innate immunity, vaccination and various aspects of immunopathology, icluded inherited immune deficiencies, autoimmunity, allergy and cancer.

SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS WORKSHOPS : Three days (full time)

The aim of these seminars is to train students to analyze scientific data and to present them in front of a broad audience.

These workshops are mandatory for students enrolled in Master programs and optional for other participants.

Important Information

1) Attendance to ALL practical sessions, conferences and scientific analysis workshops is mandatory

2) Since Type-2 Biosafety laboratory facilities will be used during the course, updated tetanos and hepatitis B vaccination certificates are required for all the students. Positive HBV serology is required.

3) The course requires the students’ personal work during evenings and weekends. Students are asked not to take any engagements in that period of time. For instance, MDs or Pharmacists are asked not to get any hospital duties during the period of the course, including during the bibliography seminars week.

4) Candidates must have a good knowledge in Immunology (1st year master level, or equivalent), Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics.

5) Students should have good knowledge of English language to be able to understand full lectures, ask questions and deliver the scientific analysis workshops in English. Understanding of French language is useful, but not mandatory, for daily interactions.

The committee of the course will evaluate applications.

Testimonial

Course presentation for first-year master’s students in February 2026  :