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Introduction
The Cell Biology 1-3 sequence is a series of ELECTIVES for any student at Bergen County Academies who is seeking an in-depth exploration of the concept of the structure and function of genes (Cell Biology 1: [Currently not running]), and the application of molecular genetics to the study of viruses in Virology (Cell Biology 2) and Immunology 1 & 2. These three courses are descendants of the coursework in the curriculum of Advanced Biology for senior AAST / AEDT students from 1995 - 2003. After completion of Cell Biology 1, in addition to, or instead of Cell Biology 2 and 3, a student may wish to enroll in the related courses: Genetics or Microbiology. PLEASE NOTE: In order to enroll in Immunology a student should have taken some other course from me such as Anatomy and Physiology, Molecular Biology, Physiological Control Systems or Virology. In addition, it would be wise to bone up on what a gene is and how they work. |
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| Immunology 1 & 2 From the day we are born to the day we die, microorganisms find us to be a very desireable place to live and "raise their families". No matter where you go on earth, you are going to encounter microscopic life forms that may ignore you (hopefully) or try to take up residence inside your cells someplace ... or every place in your body! With that awareness, everyone should be curious about how our bodies have evolved to battle the onslaught of microorganism infection. Why Immunology 1 and 2? Beginning in 2007-2008, my Immunology course has been divided into two courses Immunology 1 and Immunology 2 which will be offered during trimesters 1 and 2. The reason for this division is the addition of an exploration of stem cell biology in Immunology 1 which then has pushed the specific defense system section of immunology into Immunology 2. I have added the stem cell section to the course because of the importance of this topic in today's society and because of the addition of our stem cell associated research program at BCA (Biosciences Research Program). Please note that the major focus of stem cell biology will be the understanding of how blood cell stem cells differentiate into the cell types used by the human immune system. It will NOT have a major focus on the pros and cons regarding stem cell research. That approach would consume the entire course. However, with the foundation provided by this course in stem cell biology, further learning about stem cells will be easier. A forewarning: Differentiation of cells from stem cells to the final functional cell such as white blood cells is a genetic phenomenon as certains genes are turned on, followed by either silencing or working in concert with additional genes that become activated. You should be aware that our discussions witll revolve around the workings of genes. If you do not know what a gene is, then be prepared to do extra reading to get caught up. The question: "What is the difference between a gene, a genetic code and a genome?" will echo though the room over and over again until I am convinced you know the answer! Your immune system works with two subsystems. a. the non-specific system and b. the specific system. With that background in mind, we will spend our time in this course exploring in depth how your immune system works and at the same time explore the impact of the current world pandemic caused by HIV. In doing so, we will spend considerable time reflecting on the early years of the plague known as AIDS in order to understand how new and immerging pathogens can take hold in our population often so effectively that little can be done to stop it. In this historical perspective we will view several important films including A Time of AIDS and And The Band Played On. Resources Although
our
textbook (Biology by
Neil Campbell) has a chapter on viral genetics (Chapter 17) and a few
pages on retroviruses with special attention to HIV the
treatment
of diseases such as AIDS is not a major focus. However, the immunology
resource in the textbook is
Chapter 39. Unfortunately, immunology is a very HOT topic in
biology and the chapter is already somewhat out of date. As a
consequence and extensive set of lecture notes will be the major
resource for your understanding of immunology.
As we
focus
on immunology and AIDS, we will rely heavily
on three resources:
|
 How
Did AIDS Spread?
Time Magazine: Aug. 12, 1985 |
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Video Videotapes
that have been collected from
PBS, the Discovery Channel, The Learning
Channel, The Meaning of Life Series, and the hollywood films A Time of AIDS
and And The Band Played On. Students are provided with a series of 30-60
questions
about the video depending on its length. Each student is assigned four
or five questions. Thus,
during the video, a student does not need to focus on every question,
and
can enjoythe show. However, in the following class period, each student
presents their questions and answers to the class. Every student can
then
obtain all of the important information from the video. Each student
then
uses this information as background information for The
Effects of AIDS on Human History
research
paper as well as the
two exams on immunology.
Internet A variety of references to immunology and AIDS resources can be found at the Cell Biology 3 Internet References page. These will be of great use in the research paper investigations. Virology eText In Virology (Cell Biology 2) in our study of viruses, students use my computer based eText on Virology.This program is quite large (around 5Mb) and is available for either the Macintosh or PC environment. This program along with its Persuasion Player program, must be downloaded from a loaned CD. In Immunology, it will be essential for those who have not studied viruses to do so through this program. In addition, information about HIV is available for those who need a review. |
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| Current
Events Because immunology and AIDS is a hot area of biology and is changing daily, each student is required to maintain a portfolio of current events articles with one article due about every other week throughout the trimester. More detailed information can be found in the assignments section below. In-class Assessments Although most students enrolled in Immunology are self-motivated learners demonstrable evaluation of information assimilated and processed is appropriate. This will be seen as a two in-class examinations covering Immunology. More detailed information can be found in the assignments section below. |
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Upon the successful completion of the course, the student will be able to describe:
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To aid in the loading of this webpage, I have moved the Assignments for Immunology 1 to a separate page. Click below to view the assignments.
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