Mechanisms of diseases

The course focuses on the causes of cell, tissue, and organ injury (general pathology), on the major groups of microbial pathogens that cause human diseases (microbiology), on the principal mechanisms of responses to injury and defense (inflammation and immunity), and on the general processes of the most relevant causes of human diseases (genetics, vascular pathology, oncology).
Integrating contributions from different disciplines, the course offers a comprehensive description of the main different mechanisms of disease organized in 11 modules:
A. Cellular pathology
B. Medical genetics
C. Basic concepts on pathogens
D. Virology
E. Microbiology
F. Inflammation and innate immunity
G. Adaptive immunity
H. Immunopathology
I. Oncology
J. Vascular pathology
K. Biotechnology approaches in translational medicine

At the end of the course, students will gain understanding of:
· general pathological mechanisms leading to cell injury and death
· how the body reacts to physical and biological agents to recover homeostasis
· molecular and cellular basis for inflammatory disease states
· normal and abnormal functions of the innate and adaptive immune system
· genetic bases of human diseases
· main microbial pathogens and body's immune reactions to infections
· molecular basis of neoplastic diseases
· molecular basis of vascular alterations