Course description
Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the functional and bidirectional relationships between the nervous system, the endocrine system, the immune system and behavior. The main purpose of the course is to provide the student with an overview of present knowledge in this field and to offer an opportunity to apply a crossdisciplinary mechanistic perspective across physiological and pathological conditions. The adaptive and pathological consequences of immune activation on brain functions and behavior, including fatigue, pain, mood regulation, social behavior, and neuropsychiatric symptoms, as well as how the immune system is modulated by brain inputs, such as during stress, will be described. In addition, the course will give an opportunity to understand how behaviors can be proactively activated to improve overall defense against microbes.
The course will include lectures by leading experts in the field (including international researchers), interactive seminars, and tutoring sessions to prepare the final assignment (mock project). The students are given good opportunities to network and to interact with leading national and international researchers, and will attend a "meet-the-expert" session. We also wish this course to be an opportunity to interact with other PhD students with overlapping research interests.
The course is provided fully online, using Canvas and tools such as Mentimeter during Zoom lectures, and Gather during seminars and the "meet-the-expert" session.
Prerequisites and Selection
Prerequisite courses, or equivalent
No prerequisite courses, or equivalent, demanded for this course.
Selection
Selection will be based on:
1) the relevance of the course syllabus for the applicant’s individual study plan/research (according to written motivation).
2) start date of doctoral studies (priority given to earlier start date).
Course director
Julie Lasselin
Mats Lekander
Course syllabus
K8F5252
Department
Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Doctoral programme
Allergy, immunology and inflammation (Aii) , Neuroscience
Type of course
**Other course
Keywords
psychoneuroimmunology, Psykoneuroimmunologi, immune-brain, immunhjärnan, sickness behavior