Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche @ IPAK-EDU: IMMUNE BIOLOGY OF PANDEMICS AND EPIDEMICS

This is going to be super course that will surely challenge the mind.

HEADS UP: THIS COURSE IS POSTPONED UNTIL SEPT 2023

You may know Geert Vanden Bossche from his appearances on The Highwire, or his Substack, Voice for Science and Solidarity.

Geert has signed on to teach a new course @ IPAK-EDU - IMMUNE BIOLOGY OF PANDEMICS AND EPIDEMICS.

This will be, I’m sure a mix of virology, population dynamics, and epidemiology - a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I’m sure! The full Syllabus is listed below.

Syllabus (Subject to Change)

Instructor: Geert Vanden Bossche

This live online course of 15 weeks (about 1 hour a week) will focus on the factors that influence the dynamics of epidemics and pandemics, including, but not limited to:

General Factors

- Factors determining the shape and frequency of pandemic waves

- Role of innate immunity in controlling a pandemic

- Infectiousness and virulence of acute self-limiting viral infections or acute self-limiting viral diseases

Public Health Response Factors

- Control of pandemics or epidemics

- The role of asymptomatic infection in viral transmission and control thereof

- Use of vaccines to control outbreaks of viral infections

- Public Health guidance on when to conduct mass vaccination campaigns

Immunological Factors

- Molecular mechanisms of immune pressure exerted on viral infectiousness, neutralizability or virulence

- What is herd immunity and how does a population generate herd immunity?

- The impact of mass vaccination on herd immunity

- ‘Original’ versus ‘conditional’ antigenic sin

- Antibody-Dependent Enhancement

- Differences between natural and vaccine-induced immunity

Evolutionary Factors
- Origin and evolutionary dynamics of natural pandemics/ epidemics

- Factors driving natural selection and immune escape; how to prevent immune escape?

- Key mechanisms of immune evasion

- Mechanisms of immune dampening and immune refocusing and their impact on viral evolutionary dynamics

- Evolutionary and devolutionary immune escape mutations

- Role of breakthrough infections on the evolutionary dynamics of a pandemic

Long-Term Factors

- Immunological interference between distinct viral pandemics/ epidemics

- The impact of trained innate immunity on abrogation of viral transmission

- Pathogenic Priming

- Pandemic preparedness: Factors predisposing to new pandemics/ epidemics and how to mitigate the risk?

Recommended readings will be made available and the video link will be made available for each class.

Register now!

Monthly payment option available via PayPal.