Perhaps you already know that immunology, or the science of the immune system, is a study of the processes that keep you well and help you get better. You catch a cold because you ride the bus to work everyday and someone is always coughing on the bus. (Just, you know, hypothetically. But I’m looking at you, guy in the flat cap.). Your immune system senses the virus, fights it, then braces itself for another bus commute.
Immunology is, indeed, the study of how you stay healthy and fight infections, but that simplicity greatly underestimates the work of the immune system. Have you ever thought about what it entails for your immune system to sense and fight a virus?
The immune system must make sense of a constant stream of signals
- How does your immune system know it’s dealing with something threatening (virus) as opposed to something unfamiliar but harmless (food, air impurities)?
- How do your cells know that they’re dealing specifically with a virus instead of bacteria, fungi, or cancerous cells?
- Which of your immune (or white blood) cells are involved?
- How do your cells (tiny) find the offending pathogen (teeny tiny) in your body (relatively vast)?
- What do your immune cells do once they locate their targets?
- How do they know when to stop?
Immunology is the study of myriad cell types and several organs, which must be coordinated to protect you from a constant onslaught of nasty microbes. The immune system must determine between harmless and harmful stimuli. It must mount an appropriate response against harmful stimuli, by coordinating various cells with specialized functions. It must turn that response off in order to eliminate threats without causing too much collateral damage.
This is only the briefest introduction to what the immune system does and some of the questions that immunologists study. Hopefully it gave you some food for thought about the complexities of immunological self-defense. We’ll start to get into the science in the next post.
Stay healthy out there, bus commuters.
Your Immunology 