how to study immunology

[blazers]

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any advice on how to study immunology? i have never had immuno before, and am looking at kaplan lecture series book for immunology, and i am totally lost on whats going on. any study tips or books you all recommend? is it traditionally, a difficult subject. i find this much harder than anatomy, phys, biochem.

 

[nardini46]

read through 1st aid then your class power points then repeat ad infinitum

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

Pathoma's first few lectures do a pretty good job giving you the immuno basics

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

Read "How the immune system works" by Lauren Sompayrac.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/04...rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_i=063204702X

I think it's particularly useful for people who don't have prior immuno exposure. Amazing, amazing book that really makes it easy to understand the concepts of immunology (you still might need to refer to Levinson's immuno section for specifics regarding particular cytokines, etc). It's a really good book and, importantly, it's a very quick read (~150 pgs total). You can get through the entire book in a couple of days. It really does make the immune system much easier to understand and several of my classmates loved it as well. Hope this helps!

Edit: I actually read the prior edition (3rd edition, released in 2008) and not the most recent one. Not sure of what changes have been made, but that 3rd edition was an amazing read and you can probably get a used copy for pretty cheap if your library doesn't have it. If you look for it on Amazon, you can see a ton more awesome reviews recommending it.

 

[dr zaius]

Are you trying to augment class? The Janeway immuno book was a pretty good reference for me.

 

[laxplayanumba16]

"How the Immune System Works" + First Aid worked great for me too. A little extra reading went a long way for immuno.

 

[tobi44]

Basic immunology by Abbas and Lichtman, a slim text that is easy to read. Helped me with class but I can't say it will help for boards.

 

[JackShephard MD]

Hmm, how the immune system works was definitely strong conceptually but I didn't think it was amazing. I don't think it would be helpful for any exams, but I guess it's good to help you understand immuno.

I think Levingston's Immuno would be better from the Micro review book.

 

[D elegans]

It is indeed very confusing. I did the First Aid + lecture thing, going over them many times before things started to sink in. Many people in my class used "How the Immune System Works" and really liked it, though.

 

[deleted103644]

Janeway is the key book, although you won't need most of that info after 2nd year.

 

[Lbgem]

Basic immunology by Abbas and Lichtman, a slim text that is easy to read. Helped me with class but I can't say it will help for boards.

I second this one.

Don't get Janeway it's way too detailed/complicated for most people starting to learn immuno. Let me put it another way - it's the book my PhD immunology friend has as their reference/go to book.

 

[Gunneria]

How the Immune System Works + Levinson Immuno (90 pages) and you will rape immuno figuratively

 

[dr zaius]

How the Immune System Works + Levinson Immuno (90 pages) and you will rape immuno figuratively

Janeway will allow you to literally rape it.

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

How the Immune System Works + Levinson Immuno (90 pages) and you will rape immuno figuratively

That was my strategy as well and I feel like that gave me a very solid understanding of immunology and how the immune response is coordinated. Do I remember the minute, minute details of V(D)J recombination? No, but I don't think that'll hurt me in the long run either.

Janeway will allow you to literally rape it.

I kinda have to go with Lbgem that Janeway is more of a reference book. At least for us, we covered immuno pretty quickly and there was absolutely no way I could've gone through all the Janeway readings. I occasionally looked things up in there if I was confused about something or if my class required me to know something at a more detailed level than what Levinson + "How the immune system works" offered.

The Abbas book also looked decent and "BRS-y" (ex. good amount of detail but still being a shorter read than textbooks). I didn't actually read the book, but I really like the pictures it has!

 

[SpecterGT260]

if your professor was anything like ours.... youtube and wiki 😉 we got a compliment flow chart... a freaking flow chart... and it started at C3 and branched outwards. Yes, C3 is important, no it is not ok to present a cascade from the middle outwards. 5 min with a youtube video and it was all in order lol

 

[forestree]

any advice on how to study immunology? i have never had immuno before, and am looking at kaplan lecture series book for immunology, and i am totally lost on whats going on. any study tips or books you all recommend? is it traditionally, a difficult subject. i find this much harder than anatomy, phys, biochem.

It depends on what you mean by "totally lost." When I first started, I was "drowning in terminology soup" and never really got past "faking it." (Luckily, my school combines immuno and microbio, so I could make up for bad immuno with better microbio scores.)

Yesterday, I found a 5-minute Youtube video that gave me the foundations to re-teach myself immunology from review books (some of which are recommended above.). Do a search for "HelpHippo" - their redirect video got me where I could start understanding the review books!

 

[JackShephard MD]

I was flipping through my copy of How the Immune System Works to look up the different hypersensitivity reactions and noticed the 4 types aren't even addressed in this book. I do have the 3rd ed. and maybe they added more in the new 4th but things like this made me downgrade the book a bit.