Module Specification
The information contained in this module specification was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen circumstances, or following review of the module at the end of the session. Queries about the module should be directed to the member of staff with responsibility for the module.
Title Bacterial Disease Mechanisms
Code LIFE318
Coordinator Dr MJ Horsburgh
Functional and Comparative Genomics
M.J.Horsburgh@liverpool.ac.uk
Year CATS Level Semester CATS Value
Session 2016-17 Level 6 FHEQ Second Semester 15

Pre-requisites before taking this module (other modules and/or general educational/academic requirements):
LIFE228 None 

Modules for which this module is a pre-requisite:
 

Co-requisite modules:
 

Linked Modules:
 

Teaching Schedule
  Lectures Seminars Tutorials Lab Practicals Fieldwork Placement Other TOTAL
Study Hours 21
This refers to timetabled 1 hr lectures in which core concepts are explained
        3
This refers to two scheduled workshops (1.5 hrs each) which involve student-led discussions
24
Timetable (if known)              
Private Study 126
TOTAL HOURS 150

Assessment
EXAM Duration Timing
(Semester)		 % of
final
mark		 Resit/resubmission
opportunity		 Penalty for late
submission		 Notes
Unseen Written Exam  120  Semester 1  80  Yes    Written Exam 
Unseen Written Exam  60  Semester 1  20  Yes    In-class essay Notes (applying to all assessments) - none 
CONTINUOUS Duration Timing
(Semester)		 % of
final
mark		 Resit/resubmission
opportunity		 Penalty for late
submission		 Notes
             

Aims

To explain to students the common themes and diversity of mechanisms used by bacteria to cause disease.

 
To develop in students an understanding of virulence strategies used to achieve infection, including subversion of host immunity, expression of bacterial toxins motility and intracellular survival
 
To develop in students an understanding of mechanisms of genetic control, its temporal nature and the contribution of specific virulence determinants to the infection process
 

Learning Outcomes

 To assess the current knowledge of the innate immune barriers to bacterial infection

 

To contrast the bacterial pathogenesis strategies of diverse bacterial pathogens

To appraise the ethical aspects of animal experimentation and the scientific considerations for the design of in vivo models of infection

To summarise the molecular mode of action of key virulence determinants within a pathogen’s armoury

To evaluate the environmental, metabolic and temporal regulation of virulence genes and regulons and the mobilisation of virulence loci

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Lecture - This refers to timetabled 1 hr lectures in which core concepts are explained

Workshop - This refers to two scheduled workshops (1.5 hrs each) which involve student-led discussions

Syllabus
1 

The diversity of bacterial disease

Immune response to infection 

Bac terial subversion 

Toxins 

Infection Models 

Secretion Systems 

Pathogenicity Islands –Composition of PAIs and role in the evolution of bacterial virulence and their horizontal gene transfer.

Intracellular survival – Mechanisms and pathways used by microbes to survive inside the host cell and the interplay with host immune cells e.g. macrophage hijacking.

Environmental sensing 

Motility and chemotaxis

Host and microbial factors in polymicrobial infections

Polymicrobial infections in the gut and beyond.  

Streptococci 

Pneumococcus 

Infections in cystic fibrosis patients 

Helicobacter pylori

Pseudomonas aeruginosa 

Chlamydial disease mechanisms 

Antimicrobials, vaccines and phage therapy

Workshop topics
Infection models: ethics and use – Student-led discussion of ethics, reasons and history for using animals (e.g. Koch’s postulates), problems with design and extrapolation to humans.  Key facts are presented as a mini-lecture afterwards .

Salmonellae: generalists and specialists– Student-led discussion session to compare and contrast the differences between related species whereby their colonisation and ability to be successful enteric invasive pathogens varies drastically.
 
This module is delivered as a series of lecture sessions interspersed with workshops. The lectures will deliver the fundamental concepts associated with the module and the two workshops support learning by promoting group discussion and problem solving. Of the two workshops, the first is a student-led discussion covering ethics and usage of animals in research following critical reading of supplied articles that juxtapose views of the benefits of animal models to scientific experimentation.  The second  workshop reinforces learning from reading primary research papers and reviews and enable student-led group discussions to answer a set of questions supplie d with the research papers/reviews ; this helps students engage with specific topics to greater depth while highlighting the complexities of disease. The learning aspects in this workshops will be underpinned by having a specific undisclosed essay under examination conditions that is directed from the workshop. Individually the students have the opportunity for personalised feedback. This mid-course essay will contribute to the final module assessment mark.
 

Recommended Texts
Reading lists are managed at readinglists.liverpool.ac.uk. Click here to access the reading lists for this module.
Explanation of Reading List:

Wilson M, McNab R, Henderson B. Bacterial Disease Mechanisms: An Introduction to Cellular Microbiology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002

Mims C, Dimmock N, Nash A, Stephen J. Mim’s Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease, 4th Ed. New York: Academic Press. 1995

 

Students will be directed to current primary research articles as appropriate.