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1. Integrating neuroscience and immunology core concepts to develop a neuroimmunology curriculum

   https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1502521  

   Shah, Aparna P; Leininger, Elizabeth C; Pandey, Sumali (March 2025, Frontiers in Education)

   Chen, Audrey (Ed.)

   Training students in interdisciplinary thinking is critical for the future of scientific discovery and problem-solving more generally. Therefore, students must have early opportunities to grapple with knowns and unknowns at the frontiers of interdisciplinary inquiry. Neuroimmunology challenges students to think at the intersection of two rapidly evolving fields, neuroscience and immunology. As these disciplines focus on complex systems, their intersection represents a unique opportunity for students to witness the nature and process of interdisciplinary collaboration and synthesis. However, the fast pace of research and specialized knowledge in both disciplines present challenges for instructors interested in teaching the subject to undergraduate students. In this article, we share and describe a curriculum developed using a backward-design approach to analyze core concepts in both neuroscience and immunology, which were articulated by disciplinary experts in collaboration with their respective education communities. We determine overlaps between these conceptual frameworks, identify key prerequisite knowledge, and suggest example activities to introduce neuroimmunology to undergraduate students. This curriculum may be used for an entire course, or modified into shorter units that instructors can use within diverse educational contexts. We hope that this effort will encourage instructors to adopt neuroimmunology into their curricula, provide a roadmap to forge other such interdisciplinary educational collaborations, and prepare students to develop creative solutions to current and future societal problems. 

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2. A hybrid stochastic–deterministic mechanochemical model of cell polarization

   https://doi.org/10.1091/mbc.E19-09-0549  

   Copos, Calina; Mogilner, Alex (July 2020, Molecular Biology of the Cell)

   Edelstein-Keshet, Leah (Ed.)

   Polarization is a crucial component in cell differentiation, development, and motility, but its details are not yet well understood. At the onset of cell locomotion, cells break symmetry to form well-defined cell fronts and rears. This polarity establishment varies across cell types: in Dictyostelium discoideum cells, it is mediated by biochemical signaling pathways and can function in the absence of a cytoskeleton, while in keratocytes, it is tightly connected to cytoskeletal dynamics and mechanics. Theoretical models that have been developed to understand the onset of polarization have explored either signaling or mechanical pathways, yet few have explored mechanochemical mechanisms. However, many motile cells rely on both signaling modules and actin cytoskeleton to break symmetry and achieve a stable polarized state. We propose a general mechanochemical polarization model based on coupling between a stochastic model for the segregation of signaling molecules and a simplified mechanical model for actin cytoskeleton network competition. We find that local linear coupling between minimally nonlinear signaling and cytoskeletal systems, separately not supporting stable polarization, yields a robustly polarized cell state. The model captures the essence of spontaneous polarization of neutrophils, which has been proposed to emerge due to the competition between frontness and backness pathways. 

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3. Strategies for navigating primary scientific literature in undergraduate immunology courses

   https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1606578  

   Bergerson, Rachel J; Basta, Holly A; Coleman, Sean T; Pandey, Sumali (July 2025, Frontiers in Education)

   Segura, Miriam (Ed.)

   The impact of immunology on our daily lives is growing every year. From vaccines to immunotherapies, it's essential for our healthcare professionals (present and future) and the general public as patients or caregivers to be literate in immunology. One way to foster immune literacy in this rapidly advancing field is through Primary Scientific Literature (PSL). There are unique challenges with integrating PSL into immunology courses. First, the laboratory techniques used are often new and not things students have tried before or may have access to, such as flow cytometry. Second, the tools used in this literature can be confusing. For example, antibodies are often used as both part of the research method and as the research subject. Third, immunology literature is especially heavy in acronyms, jargon and abbreviations. In this manuscript, four instructors gathered to discuss the strategies that they have used in their classrooms to utilize PSL in immunology (PSL-I) and scaffold various activities around it. These teaching methods vary from highlighting immunology-specific techniques, interpreting figures, alignment with the 5E instructional model to guide an inquiry, jigsaw format learning, to in-depth journal-club style analysis. Finally, this paper discusses reflections from our experiences teaching PSL-I. We know that there are misconceptions about immunology and health in general. If we teach PSL and how to interpret it, we hope to prepare our students not just for their chosen field, but also to think critically and discern facts from fiction in society. 

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4. Making immunology inclusive: a low-cost, high-impact activity for exploring T cell receptor diversity

   https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1611781  

   Davis, Claudette P (September 2025, Frontiers in Education)

   Vanniasinkam, Thiru (Ed.)

   The function of the immune system is to protect and keep us safe. The immune system surveillance will protect us from foreign antigens entering our body and rogue cells that are no longer under cell cycle control. Considering the most recent pandemic, our students must understand how our immune system works and the function of essential cells involved in this system. However, due to curriculum constraints, particularly at the community college, it may not be feasible for non-biology majors or biology majors to experience the fascinating inner workings of the immune system. Undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory biology, immunology, or microbiology course may not fully grasp the magnitude of receptor diversity embedded in our T cells. The creation of an in-class activity highlights the T cell receptor and provides a deeper understanding of T cell receptor (TCR) diversity. Instructors can use the activity in a lecture or laboratory setting where students work in small groups and use clay to construct different TCRs. Students explore TCR diversity using an interactive V(D)J table of antigen codes. The activity sought to engage students in the classroom to reinforce how T cell diversity contributes to the receptor recognizing the many antigens our bodies encounter daily. The ASPECT (Assessing Student Perspective of Engagement in Class Tool) survey was used to determine students' level of collaboration within their group and their experience with the activity. Results show that students welcomed the activity and felt their contributions and actions during the activity promoted learning. 

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5. Developing and implementing a mnemonic device for teaching biological organisms in STEM education

   Flowers, L (July 2023, International Journal of Science and Research)

   Developing useful STEM pedagogical strategies is a constant goal for STEM instructors at institutions of higher learning. Analysis of empirical evidence illustrating retention rates and graduation rates among college students in STEM highlights the need for approaches to improve content engagement and learning. This article presents and describes using a mnemonic device to teach students about key features of living (e. g., bacteria) and non - living (e. g., viruses) organisms. The acronym TEDDI D. SMUB can be useful for analyzing parasitic, pathogenic, and free - living organisms. TEDDI D. SMUB is an abbreviation for taxonomy, epidemiology, diseases, drugs, immunology, diagnostics, symptoms, morphology, unique features, and biology. In addition to using this approach to learn about one organism, this approach is great for comparative organismal analysis. The article also introduces individual instructional assessments (IIA) that proffer a method to reduce plagiarism and better evaluate student understanding of discipline - based laboratory skills and cognitive skills. Additional mixed methods research studies are needed to validate the efficacy of the TEDDI D. SMUB mnemonic device to improve student educational outcomes and STEM department objectives. 

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