Vaccine project outline for Lexi Graves (2/26/2014)

Hi again,

Here is a rough draft of an outline for our spring project.

Project: Explore vaccines (what they are made of and how they work).  We will make a vaccine, immunize mice, examine the immune response to this vaccine, and explore how this immune response leads to lasting immunity against a real disease (pathogen).

Face-to-face meetings:
**Danielle (and Lexi), please give me a few dates/times that will work for these monthly get-togethers.  My schedule is relatively flexible and open, so I found it almost overwhelming to email you with my list of available days :)  You can start with just March and/or April if you don't want to schedule out all four quite yet.

March: "4 Main Types of Vaccines."  Build the four types of vaccines with props to understand them in a hands-on manner.  Also create a REAL 'subunit' vaccine in lab - this is the type I work with.  I am going to try to get authorization for you to come with me into the animal facility to actually vaccinate mice for our experiment.  Location: either ELA or National Jewish Health (if mouse vaccinations are okayed).

April:  "Innate Immune Response to Vaccines."  We will do a mouse dissection lab to get familiar with mammalian anatomy and immune organs (where vaccines do their work!).  We will look at the early immune response to our vaccine.  Location: National Jewish Health (preferred) or ELA.

May:  "Adaptive Immune Response to Vaccines."  We will look at the later events of the immune response to our vaccine (antibodies that protect you!).  Location: TBD.

June (or earlier since ELA ends June 10th):  "How Effective are Vaccines at Protecting Us?"  We will explore how protective different vaccines are.  Let's focus on your interests in STDs and look at some examples of vaccines for those diseases.  Location: TBD.


I think the face-to-face meetings will determine what we do for weekly communications, so I can't really plan those yet.

Let me know if you have questions!
Laura

Laura Noges
PhD candidate, Integrated Department of Immunology
National Jewish Health, Kappler/Marrack Lab
lab 303-398-1465
laura.noges@ucdenver.edu