Immunology The University of Manchester

Overview

The Immunology course offered at The University of Manchester will see you learn about the components, principles and mechanisms of a healthy immune system, and how they co-ordinate to mount safe and appropriate protection against infection. You will establish how the immune system can distinguish between self and non-self targets, how it can tune responses to protect against different types of infectious agents and how this challenge varies when these agents are encountered in different anatomical sites, such as in the skin, gut and lung.

In addition to establishing the workings of a healthy immune system, the course will also address what underlies situations of inappropriate or insufficient immunity, such as allergy, autoimmunity and immune deficiency. Other topics include the current and emerging use of immune molecules in diagnostic and clinical intervention strategies, including therapeutic manipulation of the immune system for cancer treatment, vaccine development and transplant tolerance.

Career opportunities

Around one-third of graduates work in scientific research and development, which may require significant postgraduate study, usually a PhD.

The rest of our graduates go into a diverse range of careers, including teaching or communicating science, as well as careers unrelated to biological sciences including management, finance, marketing and the civil service.