Immunology: A Short Course

Now in its FIFTH EDITION, this widely acclaimed textbook has been updated and revised to incorporate new findings.  Providing a concise yet thorough introduction to immunology, this text continues to provide complete coverage of all key topics in modern immunology without overburdening the reader with excessive detail or theoretical discussions.  Each chapter is divided into short, self-contained units that address key topics illustrated by uniformly drawn, full color illustrations. In addition to updating all of the chapters, IMMUNOLOGY: A SHORT COURSE, FIFTH EDITION includes completely rewritten coverage of such key topics as complement, immunodeficiencies, and lymphoid neoplasms.  Written in a clear, user-friendly style, this text is suitable for integrated courses that cover microbiology, immunology and pathology, as well as focused immunology courses.

Richard Coico is a professor and chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the City University of New York Medical School. For the past eight years, he has directed the Microbiology and Immunology course taught to medical students, and also participates in the teaching of immunology to graduate students and physician assistant students at CUNY. He is a currently President of the Association of Medical School Microbiology and Immunology Chairs (AMSMIC) and he chairs the AMSMIC Education Committee. His research interests include genomic and proteomic studies aimed at defining epitopes expressed by several human pathogens that bind promiscuously to a variety of class I MHC alleles. His laboratory uses computational immunology (bioinformatic) approaches and database-building to investigate candidate epitopes and to create shared knowledgebases.

Geoffrey Sunshine is a Senior Scientist at the Health Effects Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he reviews research on the biologic effects of air pollutants. He is also a lecturer in the Department of Pathology at Tufts University School of Medicine. For several years, he has directed a course in immunology for graduate dental students at Tufts University Dental School and previously directed a course for veterinary students at Tufts University Veterinary School. Hewas also a member of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University, doing research in antigen presentation and teaching immunology to medical, graduate, and undergraduate students.

Eli Benjamini is a professor emeritus of immunology in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the School of Medicine of the University of California at Davis. Dr. Benjamini has taught immunology to undergraduate, graduate, and medical students, as well as having served for 10 years as Chairman of the Graduate Program of Immunology on the Davis campus—a program that he was instrumental in forming. His research interests include the immunobiology of protein antigens, mechanisms of immune regulation, and principles of synthetic vaccine.