Instructional Immunology Website at UCSB
Welcome to the instructional immunology website at UCSB. This site has been developed mainly as an instructional resource for the following two UCSB immunology courses, but students and instructors anywhere are welcome to access many of the webpages hosted at this site as an instructional resource.
- Immunobiology (MCDB 133): This introductory
course presents students with a comprehensive overview of the immune system,
beginning with the extensive organ systems that collectively define the immune system
and followed by a narrowing of the focus on specific cell types, proteins, and genes
that ultimately orchestrate the specialized biological activities that
arise during an immune response.
-
Medical Immunology (MCDB 138): This course focuses on various immune-related human disease conditions that arise as the result of inappropriate immune responses that are either 1) over-active (e.g., hypersensitivity), 2) under active (e.g., immunodeficiency), or 3) misdirected (e.g., autoimmunity). This site hosts a number of case-based studies that help illustrate the boundaries between normal and abnormal immune responses.
Beginning in the late eighteen hundreds, the research of the scientific genius, Louis Pasteur, simultaneously created two new disciplines in biology - immunology and microbiology - through his discovery of microorganisms and their potential pathogenic effects on their hosts. His research modernize our scientific approaches to understanding important medical conditions in terms of rigorous scientific investigation. Thus, immunology has had a very long history and many of its founders have been awarded Nobel prizes for many important and seminal discoveries over the years. Even to this day, the discipline of immunology continues to grow by leaps and bounds, with no sign of slowing down, especially now that the human genome is being decoded.
The aim of this website is not to be comprehensive in anyway but to provide unique resources for better understanding of important topics and concepts that relate to and define the immune system. The majority of webpages found here project interactive 3-D structures of important immunological molecules for better understanding of their functions. In contrast to static 3-D images, which can go only so far in terms of importing significant features of a structure, these interactive 3-D structures allow one to "peel back" the physical layers of a structure in order to get to its core functional features.
Any feedback you wish to provide about this site is very much welcomed.
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