IMMUNOLOGY, BS
Immunology
The UAB Undergraduate Immunology Program was established in 2016 as a joint program between the Department of Microbiology in the Heersink School of Medicine and the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences. The goal of the Immunology Major is to insure that undergraduates acquire knowledge in the fundamental aspects of Immunology, including the cells, organs, and tissues that comprise the immune system and how the system functions as a whole to protect humans against infectious diseases. The science of Immunology is multidisciplinary and encompasses the study of both normal processes that confer protection and pathophysiological processes that cause disease. Normal processes include the response to microbial pathogens, vaccines, and cancer, which confer "immunity". Abnormal functions of the immune system contribute to significant disease processes and include asthma/allergy, autoimmunity, inflammatory syndromes (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, chronic neurological diseases), immunodeficiencies (both congenital and acquired), and transplant rejection.
The Undergraduate Immunology Program will provide students with a solid foundation in the core sciences, including chemistry, physics, and biology. Students will be required to take inorganic, organic, and biochemistry, as well as introductory biology, genetics, and the biology of microorganisms. Because the Undergraduate Immunology Program has a strong focus on these core sciences, majors will have the necessary foundation upon which to learn the principles of the immune system with respect to its normal and pathophysiological function. Moreover, because the Undergraduate Immunology Program requires students to take the core sciences as part of their curriculum, they will meet the prerequisites for entry into graduate and professional schools.
The Undergraduate Immunology Program and its faculty will accomplish the goals of the program through four interrelated mechanisms. First, students will be provided an outstanding academic and intellectual foundation through their coursework in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and immunology. Second, students will be immersed in a laboratory research setting where they will learn state-of-the-art research techniques and methodologies that will enable them to address important questions in Immunology through one-on-one interactions with faculty mentors and research laboratory personnel. Third, students will be able to gain skills and knowledge related to the scientific method, critical thinking, problem solving, data analysis and scientific communication (both oral and written) that will allow them to become an integral member of a research team and to present their work at poster sessions at local, regional and national meetings. Fourth, students will be able to access academic and career counseling and determine the career path that is ideally suited to their interests, as well as to identify professional or graduate programs and how best to prepare to be highly competitive for entrance into such programs.
The Undergraduate Immunology Program is designed to prepare graduates to pursue careers in research or health-related professions. Successful graduates will be competitive for acceptance into highly competitive graduate or professional degree programs that will enable them to become accomplished scientists, clinicians and health-care professionals who will contribute to efforts to elucidate the function of the immune system as it relates to health and disease. Graduates will be at the forefront of efforts to fight emerging infectious diseases, to address global health problems, to develop new vaccines, or to find treatments for chronic diseases, including cancer, autoimmunity or asthma.
Admissions
The Undergraduate Immunology Program is designed for graduating high school seniors and college freshmen and sophomores with an outstanding academic record and the desire to pursue a career in biomedical research, medicine or the health professions. Successful applicants to the Program should meet the admissions criteria below.
High school students with a GPA of 3.5 or better and an ACT score of 28 or better will be considered for immediate acceptance into the Immunology Program. High school students who do not meet these requirements may be accepted into the program as pre-immunology majors. Any student who is admitted as a pre-immunology major must have an overall GPA ≥3.0 after 24 credits of work at UAB, a GPA ≥3.25 in their Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics (MA 105 and higher) coursework, and have taken a freshman year curriculum that is compatible with the Program.
Current UAB students and transfer students from other institutions who are freshmen or sophomores (non-direct admits) may select Immunology for their major, but must have an overall GPA ≥3.0 and must have demonstrated excellent academic performance in science/mathematics courses and have a GPA ≥3.25 in those courses.
Students must maintain an overall GPA ≥3.0 in order to remain in good academic standing in the Program. If a student’s overall GPA falls below 3.0, they will have one semester to bring their overall grade to 3.0 or better.
Those who wish to apply to the Program should contact the Program Directors (uip@uab.edu) for additional information. The Director, Dr. Justement and the Co-Directors of the Program, Dr. Heather Bruns and Dr. Vithal Ghanta, are available to meet with high school students and their parents, or with current UAB students to discuss the program.
Advising and Information
Dr. Louis B. Justement
Program Director, Undergraduate Immunology
Professor of Microbiology
(205) 934-1429
Dr. Heather A. Bruns
Program Co-Director, Undergraduate Immunology
Associate Professor of Microbiology
(205) 996-4067
Dr. Vithal K. Ghanta
Program Co-Director, Undergraduate Immunology
Professor of Biology
(205) 934-4482
Mr. Evan Reddick
Academic Advisor, Undergraduate Immunology
