Hello! I am Inspecting Immunology. Not
only is that my screen name, but what I
intend to do on this channel. Are you
aware of the system that is constantly
waging a battle within your body,
defending you against microscopic
invaders? I'm going to inspect immunology to answer different questions that you
may have. I first became interested in
immunology when I was an undergraduate,
majoring in Biology. There were
introductory courses in biology that I
had to take. Not all of the information
in the courses interested me, but there
was one topic that stood out from all
the rest:
Immunology. The information only took up a section or a chapter of the textbook
as I recall, but it changed my life! Later,
as I advanced in my degree, I had the
opportunity to conduct research as an
undergraduate, which is where which is
when I obtained experience in
immunological research. I worked on
different projects and the hands-on
experience really solidified the
information that I was learning in the
classroom. After graduating, I worked at a
startup company, where I assisted with
immunology related research. Now, I am a
PhD student studying immunology. As I
have not graduated yet I cannot say that
I'm an expert, but I'm trying to become
one. I think that immunology is important
and it plays a role in our lives every
day. We usually do not think about it
until something goes wrong. My love for
immunology began after I became
fascinated with the knowledge that there
are cells in the body whose purpose it
is to defend the body against viruses,
bacteria, and parasites.
This picture represents an army of cells
lined up and ready to go. Of course, this is
not how cells actually look within the
body, as they are located throughout it.
But, it gives you a good mental image of
the purpose of the white
blood cells. These cells act in a
unifying, strategic way; as if we each
have a small army inside of us, ready for
anything. As soon as we get a cut in our
skin, bacteria that all that are always
present on our skin, enter our body. Our
immune cells go to the
battlefield - eating up the bacteria, send
signals for other cells to show up, they
form walls around the bacteria to
prevent the bacteria from going to other
parts of the body, and these cells break
down the cell walls of these invaders so
the bacteria gets destroyed. The first
time I heard this, I was so excited. I
could not believe that I was missing out
on so much information that I was
constantly doing every day. This is what
led me to start studying immunology.
Everything that I learned made me want
to learn more. It is like these cells are
little robots for most people. These
robots work flawlessly, meticulously
scanning all the cells in your body to
see which ones are infected.; or working
with other cells in a really precise
manner. It's like they are programmed to
seek and destroy invaders; but they are
not really robots, they are just cells in
your body that form functions like all
the other cells in your body. So this
represents instances where cells do not
work together and do not function like
they're supposed to. In this
representation,
there the cells are moving erratically.
In some cases, there are people who have
been healthy for year years, decades and
all of a sudden, their immune system
starts going haywire. And their immune
system starts attacking their own body,
resulting in autoimmune diseases. I think
this is crazy! It is as if the cellular
army went rogue, or that there was a
mutiny within your body. Information like
this makes me want to learn more about
immunology and try to make sense of
this cellular army. So if immunology
seems like something you would be
interested in, please hit the like button
and subscribe to this channel to receive
regular information about immunology.
Believe me, it's a fascinating subject. Of
course, there is more to immunology than
just cells. There are also antibodies!
These guys are fascinating too because
there are different kinds of antibodies
and they have different functions, which
we can talk about later. Antibodies are
able to become more specific or stickier to
the bacteria and viruses with time so
that antibodies can stick to them and
prevent these bacteria and viruses from
causing so much damage within our bodies.
So antibodies are generally effective at
neutralizing the enemy. Surprisingly
there is a type of antibody that can
contribute to allergies. This is not such
good news for people who face allergies
in the spring and fall seasons and those who
suffer from food and animal allergies. There
are just so many different things that I
plan to talk about in the future
besides cells and antibodies, because I
find it all so interesting.
This is why I plan to study immunology
for the rest of my life. I have come to
learn the beauty and complexity of it
and how much it applies, not just to
ourselves within our bodies, but to other
aspects of our lives that we had no idea
were occurring. For instance, I think it
is amazing that technology has recently
been able to manipulate antibodies.
Antibodies are used in research all the
time, not just in the field of immunology,
but also the fields of microbiology and
biochemistry. It can be used in other
fields, which we can talk about later and
antibodies are also used in the health field
and are used in food productions.
Is it healthy for us? Is it harmful? Ehere can we get reliable information so we can
protect ourselves?
These are just a couple of the many questions that I would like to inspect. It is my opinion
that despite how exciting immunology is,
it is a difficult subject. I would not
force my worst enemy to study as much as I have from textbooks if they do not want to.
This is another reason why I wanted
to create this channel. Immunology is
important and complicated. Some of the
complication and understanding arises
from the limited amount of sources of
information that are available. There are
journal articles being published every
day, but how many non scientists
understand them or know if these
articles can be trusted? In the past, some
of these peer-reviewed published papers
that people have relied on for
information have turned out to be false
and have been retracted. How do you trust
that what you are reading is true when
it has been peer-reviewed and experts
have signed off on it.
But, later to come to find out that the paper has
been rejected. If it is later retracted,
how do you know that new information
being published is true?
I plan to inspect these questions on my
channel. I would like to share my
experiences with you in regards to these
issues and maybe my experiences can help others. Overall, I would like to spread my
joy of learning about immunology to you
and to others so that you may gain
something from it in your life. My
opinions and experiences are my own. Feel
free to ask me questions in the comment
section and share with others. Don't
forget to hit the like button and
subscribe for regular updates. Thank you!
