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Online Course

How Viruses Cause Disease

Columbia University via Coursera

305
Found in Disease & Disorders
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Overview

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This introductory virology course explores the interplay between viruses and their host organisms. The course begins with an overview of how infection is established in a host, then moves to a virologist's view of immune defenses.  Next we consider how the replication strategy and the host response determine the outcome of infection, such that some are short and others are of long duration. The mechanisms by which virus infections transform cells in culture are explored, a process that may lead to tumor formation in animals. We then move to a discussion of how viral infections are controlled by vaccines and antiviral drugs. After an introduction to viral evolution, we discuss the principles learned from zoonotic infections, emerging infections, and humankind's experiences with epidemic and pandemic viral infections. The course ends with an exploration of unusual infectious agents such as viroids, satellites, and prions, followed by a discussion of the causative agent of the most serious current worldwide epidemic, HIV-1.

Syllabus

Week 1
Infection basics
Entry into the host
Viral spread
Tissue invasion and tropism
Transmission and seasonality
Week 2
Innate immune responses
Interferon
Sentinels and complement
Inflammation
Adaptive immunity
Week 3
Viral virulence
Mechanisms of cell injury I
Mechanisms of cell injury II
Host susceptibility
Week 4
Acute infections
Influenza
Poliomyelitis
Measles
Gastroenteritis
West Nile fever
Week 5
Persistent infections
Persistence by modulating the adaptive response
Two persistent infections
Herpes simplex virus
Epstein-Barr virus
Week 6
Transformation
RNA tumor viruses
Transforming retroviruses
DNA tumor viruses
Epiphenomena of a unique life style
Week 7
Vaccines
How do you make a vaccine?
Inactivated vaccines
Attenuated vaccines
Week 8
Antivirals
Antiviral discovery
Antiviral resistance
Other antiviral targets
HIV antivirals
Week 9
Viral evolution
Drivers of evolution
Error threshold and bottlenecks
Selection
Origins of viruses
Week 10
Emerging viruses
Host-virus interactions
Examples of emerging viruses
SARS and MERS
Canine parvovirus
Week 11
Viroids
Satellites
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Prions
Week 12
HIV and AIDS
The origin of HIV
HIV pathogenesis
An amazing but deadly virus

Taught by

Vincent Racaniello

Tags

usa

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John S
John completed this course, spending 3 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be hard.
Extremely interesting course, one of my favorites. Sometimes the content is a bit too detailed, since you are expected to know some particular genes and acronyms. However, it's completely worth it, and the challenge is fun rather than frustrating.
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