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Online Course

Fundamentals of Immunology, Part 1

Rice University via edX

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Overview

When you're sick, you may wonder, "Why me?" But the real question should be, "Why am I not sick all the time?" You might even ask, "Why does my body respond with a fever, and is it really a good idea to lower it?" This course explores immunology, how the body defends itself from constant assault by parasites and pathogens. This course will present the fundamentals of both innate and adaptive immunity, emphasizing functional interactions among cells and organs. We will cover signaling, pathogen recognition and the division of labor among myeloid, lymphoid and supporting cells. The subject matter will also supply health professionals and biomedical researchers with the basic vocabulary and concepts necessary to understand both clinical press releases and primary literature. The course materials also provide support to other immunology instructors by presenting difficult concepts in creative ways using analogies and models.

Taught by

Alma Moon Novotny

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Reviews for edX's Fundamentals of Immunology, Part 1 Based on 7 reviews

  • 5 stars 71%
  • 4 stars 29%
  • 3 star 0%
  • 2 star 0%
  • 1 star 0%

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  • 1
Anonymous
Anonymous completed this course.
I took this course in March/April of 2014 for its first run. Immunology is a complex field that requires learning an awful lot of terminology, most of it obscure and illogical (names were given when things were discovered, not afterwards when we understand how it all fits together). So this course necessarily...
3 people found
this review helpful
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Anonymous
Anonymous completed this course.
Tough but fair, leading to a deep understanding of the innate and adaptive immune systems. (Part I concentrates on B cells and complement. Part II will highlight T cells.) Professor Novotny's models are excellent.
1 person found
this review helpful
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Anonymous
Anonymous completed this course.
Excellent but difficult. Requires prerequisite knowledge of biology and genetics, otherwise fundamentals must be learned and then try to master the course materials.
1 person found
this review helpful
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Anonymous
Anonymous completed this course.
A very interesting course, and a great teacher, with a lot of pedagogy. Pr Novotny is always creative when it comes to find a nice way to make things understandable.
1 person found
this review helpful
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EH
Edith H
by Edith completed this course, spending 7 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.
Great course by a great teacher! While having learnt some bits and pieces about this subject many years ago, I am extremely motivated now to really dive into it and to get the complete picture. Dr Novotny tells things in a well-structured, clear and at times very funny way and in addition, the videos are accompanied by great outlines. So indeed - as stated in one of the other reviews - the memories stick. And Dr Novotny is very active on the forum, so when you have questions or suggestions, she (and her colleague staff members) will always be around to give quick replies. Very much recommended (but do get up to date with basic cell biology - e.g. by following some other MOOC - first, otherwise you will have a hard time following the pace). I already signed up for the second part!
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Teresa T
Teresa completed this course.
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