Three Schools

The first year of the programme is co-ordinated by three Schools that bring together scientists from different Departments and Divisions within Imperial College who share common expertise and interests within specifically identified topic areas. Each School, which will be co-ordinated by a senior scientist, will have responsibility for a component of the first year course.

The schools

School 1

Co-ordinator: Dr Fiona Culley

Regulation of development of biological systems and their genetic manipulation:

Evaluation of models of infection. Genetic analysis of infection using mutants of the pathogen, vector or host. Transgenic approaches and functional genomics. Novel targets for the development of new therapeutic molecules. Molecular and cellular dissection of stage specific regulation of gene expression in pathogens. The molecular bases for cell-cell interactions. The interaction of the pathogen and the host at mucosal surfaces. Inter- and intra-cellular signalling. How pathogens subvert and exploit host physiology and regulatory pathways. Current understanding of the molecular basis of host defence mechanisms (innate and adaptive immunity).

School 2

Co-ordinator: Prof Peter O'Hare

Cellular pathology of infection. Molecular mechanisms of transmission. Intervention: drugs and vaccines:

Understanding normal host defences against infection. Dysregulation of the immune response, and how this may cause disease. Mechanisms of transmission at the cellular and systematic levels. Mechanisms of pathogenesis and how micro-organisms cause tissue injury at a cellular and whole organ level. Development of animal models of human infectious disease. Principles of combinatorial chemistry and rational drug design. Pathgen-host interactions at the molecular level for identification of potential drug targets. Strategies for vaccine development. Immunologically-based therapies.

School 3

Co-ordinator: Professor Angelika Gründling

Genomics, Pathogenesis, Analytical methods, Macromolecular Structure & Function:

Regulation of gene expression, comparative genomics, functional genomics, and, metabolomics. Introduction to analytical methods including mass spectrometry, proteomics, glycobiology and nuclear magnetic resonance. Function and assembly of proteins and complexes from pathogens and hosts; high resolution structures of proteins and carbohydrates including virulence factors and antigens of use in vaccine development; introduction to innate and/or adaptive immune responses