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Department of Microbiology & Immunology
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Curriculum & CoursesThe Certificate is composed of four (4) core online courses, which add up to a total of 12 graduate credit hours. Students have a choice of full time (2 courses per semester) or part time (1 course per semester) study. The specific courses are outlined below: MICB 515 (Staff) : Microbiology of Biological Threat Agents & Emerging Infectious Diseases This course will cover the normal immune response both innate and acquired to infectious agents. The microbiology will focus on NIH bioterrorism agents (categories A-C), which can be utilized as biological weapons and will focus on their structure, pathogenicity, and treatment. Viral agents will include Variola (Smallpox) and hemorrhagic fevers (Ebola and Lassa), and HIV/AIDS. The threat of plant and animal pathogens (agroterrorism) and the importance of biosurveillance will be covered. Bacterial agents to be discussed include B.anthracis, Yersinia pestis (plague), Francisella tularensis (tularemia) and Coxiella burnetii (Q fever) as well as fungal agents will be reviewed. Public policy issues include DC response and readiness to bioterrorism as well as the NIH response will be covered. This course is taught by multiple experts in biohazardous threat agents, host response mechanisms, agroterrorism, and public health implications of bioterrorism. Contributing lecturers include Georgetown University Hospital’s Infectious Disease professor Dr. Timpone, MD and USDA’s Research Plant Pathologist Dr. Schaad, PhD, among many others. MICB 519 (Dr. Collmann): Biosurveillance I: An Applied, Multidisciplinary Perspective This course will critically examine the implications for biosurveillance of political and organizational controversies about defending against terrorism including bioterrorism. The course opens by studying the debate about terrorism as a type of asymmetrical warfare. What accounts for terrorist attacks against the United States and our allies? What is the relationship between foreign policy, law enforcement and warfare in our response to terrorism? What constraints, if any, should we apply to ourselves in responding to terrorism? For example, should the United States resume its bioweapons program if for no other reason than to understand our enemies? The course continues by examining the debate about reforming our governmental bureaucracy responsible for responding to terrorism. Why did we not recognize the emerging threat of the 9/11 attacks? What principles should we apply in reforming our intelligence and homeland defense organizations? The course concludes with close examination of sociological perspectives on designing effective organizations for responding to threats including biothreats. What should we do to improve how our existing food safety bureaucracy protects us against natural biothreats? Why should we expect, and prepare for failures even in organizations well prepared for contingencies? Can we design organizations capable of responding to novel threats and unanticipated events such as bioattacks? As a result of completing this course, students should gain an appreciation of the fundamentally political character of biosurveillance and biodefense including their technological dimensions. MICB-523 (Dr. Lucey): Biodefense Public Health Countermeasures This course will examine Public Health countermeasures against ten (10) infectious diseases ranging from pandemic influenza, SARS, Nipah virus, and Hantavirus to the six CDC Category A bioterrorism agents: Botulism, Ebola, Plague, Anthrax, Smallpox, and Tularemia (www.BePast.org).The Public Health countermeasures will include: vaccines, antimicrobials, risk communication, personal protective equipment (PPE), isolation and quarantine. Emphasis will be on learning from past outbreaks and new countermeasures (e.g., vaccines) to help prepare us better for the next biological threat, including with an unknown organism (?Disease X?). Particular focus will be on H5N1 and other avian influenza viruses that have infected humans as of 2005, the SARS outbreak of 2003, and the anthrax attacks of 2001. MICB 525 (NealPollard, JD): Homeland Security 2015 This course will examine threats to the US homeland, how they might evolve over the next ten years, and the consequent implications for science, technology and homeland security. The course will examine the motivations of non-state actors to threaten the US homeland, and how those actors might use technology and exploit vulnerabilities to attack the US. The course will also examine the role of science and technology in countering these threats and securing the homeland, and the competing policy interests that affect decision-making for investments in science and technology. The course will give students insight into the nexus of science, technology, and policy, and the underlying competing interests that must be balanced to optimize the potential of science and technology to benefit and enrich the United States while protecting it. BlackBoard
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