What is immunology?

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.

Some pertinent details about Your Immunology

A little bit about me

My name is Amanda. I’m an American immunologist living and working in the UK. I’ve been studying science since I was 12. I wanted to be a scientist since I extracted DNA and spooled it onto a glass rod in biology class. I’ve loved to write since primary school, but that went on a distant backburner when I went to college and focused on my biology degree. After my BSc, I completed a PhD in immunology and I’m currently doing postdoctoral research. I love science more than ever, but I’m not sure I’ll always be a researcher.

Which is to say…

I know a fair bit about immunology. I love thinking and talking about science, but I miss writing. Despite recent improvements, I think scientists fail to engage with their communities often enough or in the right way. I want to communicate with people who identify as non-scientists, but are still curious about science.

What you can expect

My area of expertise is a sliver of a piece of a slice of science- I am a T cell and thymus biologist. So, I’m going to talk about basic immunological concepts and on-going research. I want to tell you the things I think are fascinating about how your body tries to stay well and regain health after sickness or injury. I’ll also write a bit about the life of a scientist.

 

Our sliver of a piece of a slice

A few notes about the structure of the blog

Many posts will be accompanied by my illustrations. This is because scientists love schematics and diagrams. If you pick up an article written for a scientific audience, you’ll find similar (ahem, but perhaps more professional) illustrations.

Acronyms and abbreviations are an immunologist’s best friends. It’s inevitable that I’ll reference something that you’re not familiar with and I’ve failed to explain adequately. Call me out on those occasions. It’s easy to forget what a non-specialist won’t be familiar with.

Why I think you might care

Immunology answered a lot of questions about health and disease that I’ve had over the years, and I think it can do the same for many of you. I don’t think anyone should be excluded from understanding how the body or the immune system works, even if it’s been a long time since your last biology class. It won’t always be simple and straightforward to understand the concepts, but I’ll do my best to make it worthwhile. I hope you’ll read along and find some interesting, useful information.