22145 Immunological Bioinformatics Course Programme Fall 2026
General information
Where and when
Classes are held on Wednesdays from 8:00 to 12:00 in Building 208, Holdlokale 3/065, beginning on Wednesday, 2 September 2026, at 09:00.
The first hour of each class 8-9 is dedicated to course preparation, including videos, papers, or other reading material provided on DTU Learn. Unless otherwise specified, we meet at the classroom at 09:00.
Teachers
- Carolina Barra Quaglia — Associate Professor and course responsible.
- Morten Nielsen — Professor and course responsible.
Teaching assistant
- Eric Bautista Farrerons — PhD student.
Course content
The course introduces students to state-of-the-art methods in computational immunology.
The methods are presented in the context of immunology as a domain-specific field. Introductions to the underlying theory are followed by practical exercises, enabling students to perform analyses independently. The course covers immunological bioinformatics and computational vaccinology, with perspectives on infectious diseases, cancer immunotherapy, and autoimmunity.
The course is taught in two parts:
- Part 1 consists of lectures and group-based exercises. Part 1 ends with a "in class" written exam on November 11th.
- Part 2 consists of a group research project, culminating in a poster presentation on the final day of the course. December 2nd.
See also the DTU course description for course 22145.
Curriculum
There is no required textbook. The curriculum consists of lectures and exercises completed in class, supplemented by papers and book chapters made available on DTU Learn. Please note that all exercise guides are part of the mandatory curriculum, including the answers, which will be made available on DTU Learn after each exercise.
Hand-ins
Regardless of the software used to prepare your work, all submissions must be handed in as PDF files.
Group submissions are permitted and recommended.
The hand-ins are mandatory however, they do not affect your grade. Their main purpose is to help you prepare for the exam and to help the teaching team assess students' understanding. If several participants make the same mistake, the issue will be clarified at the beginning of the following lecture.
Exam
The assessment consists of two parts: a written two-hour written exam in week 10, and a group oral project presentation with individual questions at the end of the course. The final grade is based on an overall assessment of both parts. To pass the course, you must complete the oral presentation and pass the written exam.
All aids are permitted during the written exam, including books, papers, and notes.
Internet is not allowed in the written exam
You are not permitted to communicate with other people through email, social media, chat services, or any file-sharing platforms. Internet traffic may be logged during the exam to ensure compliance with these restrictions.
The use of generative AI is permitted during the project work, but you must clearly state where and how you used them as stated in DTU guidelines.
Please beware that content, results, links etc. that you discover via generative AI may be incorrect - simply because of the way generative AI models are built.
Generative AI produces content from huge amounts of data collected from the internet. The data that the AI system is based on is not necessarily publicly available and it may be copyright protected.
You are solely responsible to adhere to the academic standards of honesty, transparency and accountability as outlined in DTU's code of honour and Principles for good scientific conduct.
DTU Learn link
- DTU Learn page: https://learn.inside.dtu.dk/d2l/home/325135
Lecture and exercise plan
Note: This is a preliminary plan and may be subject to changes. Check the page regularly for updates.
Wednesday, 2 September 2026 — Introduction and databases
- Preparation material:
- Video: Immunology Recap
- Video: Adaptive Immunity
- Book chapter: The adaptive Immune system
- Lectures: We start at 9am
- Introduction to immunological bioinformatics — Carolina Barra Quaglia.
- Databases — Carolina Barra Quaglia.
- Slides: All slides will be made available on DTU Learn.
- Exercise:IEDB
Wednesday, 9 September 2026 — MHC binding prediction, Part 1
- Lecture: MHC binding prediction, Part 1 — Morten Nielsen.
- Slides: Available on DTU Learn.
- Exercise: MHC binding prediction
Wednesday, 16 September 2026 — MHC binding prediction, Part 2
- Lecture: MHC binding prediction, Part 2 — Morten Nielsen.
- Slides: Available on DTU Learn.
- Exercise:MHC Binding Prediction 2
Wednesday, 23 September 2026 — Antigen processing and presentation
- Lecture: Antigen processing and presentation — Carolina Barra Quaglia.
- Slides: Available on DTU Learn.
- Exercise: To be updated
Wednesday, 30 September 2026 — Allergenicity and immunogenicity prediction
- Lectures:
- Allergenicity prediction — Carolina Barra Quaglia.
- Immunogenicity prediction — Carolina Barra Quaglia.
- Slides: Available on DTU Learn.
- Exercises: To be updated
Wednesday, 7 October 2026 — Vaccine design
- Lecture: Vaccine design — Morten Nielsen.
- Slides: Available on DTU Learn.
- Exercise:HCV Vaccine development
Wednesday, 14 October 2026 — Autumn break
Wednesday, 21 October 2026 — BCR and TCR structure prediction
- Workshop: BCR and TCR structure prediction — Carolina Barra Quaglia.
- Slides: Available on DTU Learn.
- Exercise:
Wednesday, 28 October 2026 — B-cell epitope prediction
- Lecture: B-cell epitope prediction — TBD.
- Slides: Available on DTU Learn.
- Exercise:
Wednesday, 4 November 2026 — T-Cell Receptor interaction predictions
- Lecture: TCR interaction models — Morten Nielsen
- Slides: Available on DTU Learn.
- Exercises:
Wednesday, 11 November 2026 — Written EXAM
- 9-11 EXAM
- 11-12 Introduction: Short introduction to project work — Carolina Barra Quaglia.
Wednesday, 18 November 2026 — Project work
- Lecture: No lecture.
Wednesday, 25 November 2026 — Project work
- Lecture: No lecture.
Wednesday, 2 December 2026 — Poster session
- Poster presentations will begin at 08:00.
- Poster presentation agenda: To be announced.
Exam
In order to get access to the written exam you should submit first all the exercises
The exam has two parts: A 2hs written exam on November 11th and an oral presentation of the group project on December 2nd. Failure to pass one of the two will correspond to the No Pass grade