These include serologic analyses for evaluation of infectious diseases, electrophoretic analysis of serum, urine and cerebrospinal fluids for qualitative immunoglobulin abnormalities, isoelectric focusing for Pi typing, nephelometric quantitation of major serum protein species, quantitative and functional analyses of complement, immunoglobulin quantitation, RAST testing for allergies, detection of autoantibodies in the evaluation of autoimmunity, Western blotting for diagnosis of HIV infection and Lyme disease, serologic tissue typing and cross matching prior to allografting, and the application of molecular biology techniques to the analysis of HLA polymorphism. The division is strongly committed to teaching basic and clinical immunology to undergraduate biology majors, graduate students, medical students, pathology residents, postdoctoral fellows, and clinicians participating in continuing medical education programs. All pathology residents participate in an initial two-month rotation in the division. During this time they become acquainted with analytic methodologies, acquire expertise in immunofluorescence and serology, interpretation of test results, pitfalls, and expected follow-up. They prepare, with the assistance of one of the staff, cases for presentation at the weekly pathology resident clinical case conference.
Many residents return for an elective rotation in their final year to update their skills.
All professional staff of the division are involved with research and development, frequently in collaboration with members of other departments at UPMC, or at other universities, e.g., Carnegie-Mellon University. Psychosocial events that influence susceptibility to infectious disease. Use of exercise as a buffer of stressor induced immune alterations. Use of stress reduction as a means of modifying the course of autoimmune disease. Seroepidemiology and pathobiology of hepatitis and HIV virus infections.