Overview
On completion of this unit, you will understand the pre and post-natal development of the human immune system and its function in health and disease. This includes autoimmune disorders, hypersensitivity reactions and microbiological infections. You will also have learned about the diagnostic uses of antibodies, vaccine design, and preventive and therapeutic uses of vaccines. Problem-solving and decision making skills will be developed through the use of authentic case studies. Skill development in instrument calibration, best practice measurement, interpretation of test results, and test quality control monitoring will occur through practical exercises. You will be required to attend a residential school to promote the development of unit learning outcomes. The residential school may be scheduled outside of the term of offering of the unit.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite Enrolment in Master of Laboratory Medicine.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2024
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student Feedback
Some students commented that they did not understand what was needed for the written assignments.
Encourage student attendance to Academic Learning Centre (ALC) workshops that have been designed to help students in CM18.
Feedback from Student Feedback
Students reported that the unit was very content heavy and that they struggled to recall all of the information in a single final exam.
Consider assessing the students knowledge mid-term to reduce student stress.
- Evaluate the major cells and tissues of the immune system and their function in the immune response
- Compare and contrast the innate and adaptive immune systems and their roles in the immune response
- Evaluate immune dysfunctions including hypersensitivity, immunodeficiency and autoimmunity
- Appraise the treatment and management of immune disorders
- Demonstrate the skills and techniques required in the evaluation of immune function in a laboratory setting.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online Test - 20% | |||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | |||||
| 3 - Laboratory/Practical - 0% | |||||
| 4 - Examination - 40% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||
| 4 - Research | |||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Textbooks
BASIC IMMUNOLOGY
Edition: 7th (2023)
Authors: Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai
Elsevier
ISBN: 9780443105197
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.steel@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to Immunology
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 1
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Innate Immune System
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Antigen Capture and Presentation
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 3
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Antigen Recognition in the Adaptive Immune System
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
T cell-mediated Immunity
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Mid-Session Online Test opens (9th August)
Module/Topic
Independent Study
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Effector Mechanisms of the T-cell
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 6
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Humoral Immune Responses
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Effector Mechanisms of the Humoral System
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Antibody use in disease diagnosis and treatment
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Immunological Tolerance and Autoimmunity
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 9
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Immunology in Non-Microbiological Diseases
Chapter
Basic Immunology 6th Ed (2019); Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai:
Chapter 10-12
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Self-directed study/ Exam revision
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
An invigilated examination will be scheduled in the scheduled examination period. Students will be notified of the exact date once it has been scheduled.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
An invigilated examination will be scheduled in the scheduled examination period. Students will be notified of the exact date once it has been scheduled.
The unit coordinator is Dr. Jason Steel and can be contacted via email: j.steel@cqu.edu.au or phone: 07 4930 6391.
Dr. Steel is a Rockhampton-based senior lecturer with over 20 years of research and teaching experience in the field of immunology.
TEXTBOOK
Basic Immunology 7th Edition (2023)
Authors: Abul Abbas, Andrew Lichtman, Shiv Pillai
As per Australian educational standards, you are expected to commit 150 hours of engagement to your study of this unit (~12.5hrs each week). Students are expected to spend time doing the following each week:
3 - 4 hours per week watching pre-recorded lectures and revising the content through study notes.
2 - 3 hours per week completing the weekly study questions and weekly revision quizzes on the unit's Moodle site.
2 - 3 hours per week attending the weekly tutorials and reflecting on your answers to the weekly revision worksheets.
3 - 4 hours per week preparing for your assessments and end of term invigilated exam.
This unit also has a compulsory laboratory component which will be completed during the CM18 Residential Schools held on 15-26th September in Rockhampton or the 28th October-18th November in Melbourne.
1 Online Test
Students will be required to undertake an online test for this unit.
The online test will be held mid-session and will examine content from weeks 1-5 and will be open from Friday of week 5 through to Tuesday of week 6 (9 - 20 April). The test will need to be completed within a 90 minute window. The format of the online test will consist of multiple choice, short answer and long answer questions.
Week 6 Tuesday (20 Aug 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
2 weeks after submission
Questions will be marked correct or incorrect at the completion of the online test. Part marks may be awarded for partially correct answers.
Thre is no minimum pass mark for this assessment.
- Evaluate the major cells and tissues of the immune system and their function in the immune response
- Compare and contrast the innate and adaptive immune systems and their roles in the immune response
- Appraise the treatment and management of immune disorders
2 Written Assessment
Students will be presented with a hypothetical senario and will need to prepare a 2000 +/- 10% written report that “Explains the 'innate' and 'adaptive' immune responses to a novel infection. They will also need to outline how the non-specific and specific arms of the immune system cooperate to effect an immune response”.
- Students will start with the premise of someone sneezing or coughing on someone and work their way through the immune responses, ending with viral clearance and the formation of immunological memory. Hint: the first part of the immune response are your barriers (skin and mucus layers). Most of the virus will get trapped by these before they get into your lungs.
- Diagrams and flow charts can be used. These will not be included in the word count.
- References are needed for this assignment (including any diagrams or figures used). DO NOT reference lectures or lecture notes. This information can be found from other sources (such as your textbook).
Week 11 Friday (27 Sept 2024) 11:59 pm AEST
2 weeks after submission
The assessment of this written report will be based on the demonstrated knowledge of immune processes, using appropriate robust scientific literature, and clarity of the proposal with accurate referencing.
A detailed marking rubric will be available on the Moodle site for this unit.
- Evaluate the major cells and tissues of the immune system and their function in the immune response
- Compare and contrast the innate and adaptive immune systems and their roles in the immune response
3 Laboratory/Practical
Within the practical residential school the students will have to show competence in the use and understanding of immunological techniques (such as an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA) and safety protocols commonly used in the pathology setting.
Students will be required to submit their laboratory workbook at the completion of the laboratory practical. The workbook will contain questions designed to assess an understanding of the experimental techniques being performed. They will also be required to successfully determine the concentration of an allergen in a sample of their own blood using an ELISA.
Laboratory workbook submitted after the completion of the immunopathology residential school
Within 2 weeks of submission.
You will be assessed on the following criteria:
- completion of the experiments outlined in the laboratory manual
- an understanding and adherence to the safety protocols dealing with blood handling
- displaying sufficient understanding of the experimental techniques as assessed by answering workbook questions
- calculations to determine the concentration of an allergen in blood using an antigen-specific ELISA
Marks will be allocated within the Laboratory workbook for each section, and marking rubric will be available on the Moodle site for this unit.
- Evaluate immune dysfunctions including hypersensitivity, immunodeficiency and autoimmunity
- Demonstrate the skills and techniques required in the evaluation of immune function in a laboratory setting.
Examination
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
