PATHOGENESIS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES - 2019/0

Module Overview

This module is designed to focus on the pathogenic strategies of infectious agents. During the module students will receive lectures, tutorial and workshops on virulence strategies which infectious agents employ to illicit disease as well as sessions on important bacterial and parasitic pathogens. Included within these sessions will be examples of modern research approaches used to investigate the mode of action of pathogen virulence in order to stimulate the student’s ability to design research experiments.

Module provider

School of Biosciences and Medicine

Module Leader

BESTE Dany (Biosc & Med)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Introduction to Microbiology and Immunology

Module content

Indicative content includes bacteria, fungi and parasites which are exemplars of the following mechanisms of pathogenesis:

• toxin mediated diseases


• Bacterial Secretion mechanisms


• Opportunistic diseases


• Metabolism as a pathogenic strategy


• Mycobacterial Diseases    


• Biofilm formation and Disease


• Molecular mechanisms of antigenic variation


• Iron Acquisition


• Sexually transmitted diseases


• GI Diseases


• Parasitic disease


• Meningitis

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they are able to:

• Explain the different pathogenic strategies which infectious agents employ to cause clinical disease.


• Discuss how research into pathogenesis can be used in the development of drugs and vaccines.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

           Coursework (50%)

           Rapid report (20%)

           1000 word essay (30%)

           Examination (50%)

• 2 hours,  2 essays (2 from 4)

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is integral to this module which gets students to formulate short presentations and questions prior to lectures. Students also have the opportunity to participate in a debate. Feedback will be given through individual support tutorials which can be arranged between the student and module organiser, as well as summative feedback at the end of the module. Students received verbal feedback during lectures. Finally feedback is provided by extensive annotation of exam papers and an open-door afternoon post-exam to look at marked papers with students.

Module aims

• Advance and develop students knowledge about the known pathogenic strategies infectious agents use to invade and infect the human host and ultimately cause clinical diseases and also the scope of methods available to the study virulence and pathogenesis and how this knowledge can be used to in the development of new treatments or prevention strategies.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

• Lectures


• Workshops


• Debate


• Discussion


• Rapid reports

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MMIM024

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2019/0 academic year.