Mechanisms of diseases

The course focuses on the causes of cell, tissue, and organ injury (general pathology), 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 (cardiovascular pathology, oncology, immunopathology). Integrating contributions from different disciplines (i.e. general pathology, immunology and oncology), the course offers a comprehensive description of the main different mechanisms of disease organized in 6 modules: A. Cellular pathology B. Inflammation and innate immunity C. Adaptive immunity D. Immunopathology E. Oncology F. Vascular pathology

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, chemical 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
· molecular basis of neoplastic diseases
· molecular basis of vascular alterations