This year the course is inspired by a multidisciplinary research project coordinated by the Institut Pasteur in Paris. It is called "Milieu Interieur" and aims at dissecting the interplay between genetics and environment to understand how it impacts the immune system and defines the determinants of a healthy immune response. The "Quantitative Immunology Course" wishes to capitalize on this program to explore the ongoing transition from reductionist studies based on the application of genetic approaches in animal models to a more integrated view of the physiology and pathology of the human immune system. It will highlight the latest advances in large‐scale, quantitative data collection and computational analysis as applied to biochemical aspects of immune cell activation and function, multicellular behavior in tissues and model organisms, and human immune function in health and disease.
Emphasis will be placed on how biological function emerges from the interaction of multiple components in networks and pathways, how the construction of quantitative models permits predictions about systems behavior that can be tested experimentally, and how deep analysis of large‐scale, multi‐ parameter data collection in humans can lead to identification of reliable biomarkers and bring insight into disease pathogenesis.
The practical workshop sessions will explore the heterogeneity of healthy human immune response. They are designed to demonstrate a selection of approaches in immunophenotyping of human blood samples and in evaluation of the impact that factors such as age or gender may have on the healthy human immune phenotype.
Have a look on the programme of open lectures here.
To know more about the "Milieu Interieur" project, you can watch this video by the Institut Pasteur: