Overview
Immunology is fast becoming an important discipline in Medical Laboratory Science. The diagnostic immunology laboratory provides information about patient status through the testing of clinical samples, particularly blood and serum. Diseases which can be detected using immunological techniques include allergy, immune deficiency, autoimmune diseases and a range of infectious diseases.
Instead of isolating and identifying microbial pathogens (which takes place in the microbiology laboratory), infection is inferred by the presence of antibodies in the patient's serum or changes in prevalence of different white blood cell types.
Diagnostic techniques
Techniques that are used in the diagnostic immunology laboratory range from fairly simple procedures, with the use of antibodies coupled to fluorescent dyes or enzymes, through to more sophisticated techniques such as flow cytometry, where lasers are fired at individual cells (eg. white blood cells) labelled with fluorescent dyes in order to characterise the population.
This technique can be used to monitor the success of treatment in patients suffering from HIV infection.
Many immunology laboratories are also able to quantify viral load in clinical samples using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. This is particularly useful for assessing patients infected with hepatitis viruses. In the diagnostic immunology laboratory, quality control and interpretation of results are essential functions and many techniques are now automated.
Immunology teaching
The teaching you receive initially in the Medical Laboratory Science course will provide you with a basic understanding of the function of the innate and adaptive immune systems and some of the problems that can arise.
Later in the course you will receive further teaching in autoimmunity, allergy, immune deficiency and other diseases affecting the immune system.
You will be taught basic immunology laboratory techniques, which will provide the background required to enter the hospital diagnostic immunology laboratory in the fourth year of the course.
Immunology is fast becoming an important discipline in Medical Laboratory Science.
More information
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