基本免疫学哲学博士-传染病

博士学位是高级研究学位，旨在反映与候选人担任独立研究科学家的能力一致的培训水平。这涉及成功完成反映现代免疫学知识的课程工作，并具有进行可发表质量研究的证明能力。要获得该学位的资格，每个候选人都必须成功地获得候选人资格，根据他/她的原始研究提交令人满意的论文，并在期末口试中成功地为其辩护。博士学位论文应包含大量的原始研究成果，其数量应与在经认可的参考期刊上发表的两三篇论文相适应。通常，这些手稿中至少有一份应在考试时被接受发表。<br> <br>传染病的免疫学涉及研究免疫系统如何对传染原作出反应以及传染原如何
The Department of Immunology offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in a wide range of immunological disciplines. These disciplines include molecular mechanisms of lymphocyte development and selection, T-cell and B-cell receptors, cell interactions, growth factor receptors, cytokine networks, antigen processing and presentation, signal transduction in lymphocytes, V(D)J recombination, anergy, apoptosis, transgenic and knock-out models, immuno-targeting and vaccine design, autoimmunity, AIDS, diabetes, and transplantation.<br>The department provides a common forum for investigators in many areas of U of T and an interdisciplinary research experience in immunology. Members and students in the department are located at the Medical Sciences Building, at the Ontario Cancer Institute, and at the Research Institutes of Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Sunnybrook Hospital. The PhD degree is an advanced research degree intended to reflect a level of training consistent with the ability of the candidate to function as an independent research scientist. This involves successful completion of course work reflecting a knowledge of modern immunology, as well as a demonstrated ability to carry out research of publishable quality.<br>The immunology of infectious disease involves studies of how the immune system responds to infectious agents and how infectious agents interact with, modify or evade the immune system. In recent years there have been major advances in our understanding of the immune response to infection. One of the major advances has been the recognition of the link between the innate and adaptive immune systems in responding to infection. Mammalian cells involved in innate immune defenses have pattern recognition receptors that allow the host to detect conserved features of infectious agents such as viral nucleic acid or bacterial cell wall components. These pattern recognition receptors are crucial for activating the innate immune system and rendering cells called antigen-presenting cells capable of activating T cells of the adaptive immune system. There is currently much interest in understanding how the immune system recognizes different features of infectious agents and how it translates these signals to allow the appropriate immune response to effectively control the pathogen. Another major advance has been the development of approaches and reagents to carefully follow antigen-specific T lymphocyte responses to infectious agents using intracellular cytokine staining and MHC tetramers. These tools are providing important insights into how the immune response to infectious agents develops over time. Immunological memory, the ability to rapidly recognize and respond to pathogens based on prior exposure, is the basis upon which vaccines to infectious agents are developed. Thus an important area of investigation is to understand the features of the infectious agents and the immune system that lead to induction and maintenance of immunological memory. In addition to the direct effects of infectious agents, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the host response to infection combined with genetic susceptibilities can contribute to conditions such as Crohn's disease or reactive arthritis. Therefore understanding the detailed interactions between pathogens and the immune system and determining the correlates of protection versus pathology are critical for understanding and controlling both infectious diseases and a number of infection-related autoimmune conditions.