Applying anatomy and physiology perspective on the human body, you will be writing about the functions of critical cells and chemicals in the skin. To get introduced to some of those cells and molecules, we will review a few resources on one of the lesser-known skin functions: immune defense. Irma Gigli is a dermatologist (skin scientist) and immunologist (immune system scientist) who formerly led the department of dermatology at UC San Diego’s medical school. She is from Argentina and overcame numerous challenges in her career, including visa issues that forced her to leave the United States. Dr. Gigli is one of the first researchers to have explored the immune system functions of skin cells and wrote hundreds of articles on that subject, as well as articles on other skin system topics.
1) Please click the document to read the biography of Dr. Gigli from the book “Notable Hispanic American Women,” by Diane Telgen (p. 177-178).
2) Then, click this link ( https://ecrcommunity.plos.org/2015/06/05/just-skin-deep-your-immune-system-at-the-surface/ ) to read a summary of immune system/skin interactions from PLOS (Public Library of Science). Pay special attention to information on the skin’s layers and types of skin cells. While this article was not written by Dr. Gigli, much of what is known in the article is a result of research Dr. Gigli performed.
3) Finally, please take a quick look at the abstract of one of Dr. Gigli’s articles by clicking here ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC443264/ ) This includes some terminology that is a beyond our goals for Bio 40A, but it serves as an opportunity to see an example of some important original research. Do NOT worry about understanding the whole abstract or looking up unknown words. Instead, simply try to look for whichever words you might have heard before and what the broad ideas might be.
After reviewing these resources, write a reflection with your responses. You might wish to discuss any or all of the following topics:
1) What was most interesting or most confusing about the these resources?
2) What can you learn from these resources regarding the cellular composition of the skin and the molecular/physiological activities in the skin?
3) What do these resources tell you about the types of people that do science?
4) What new questions do you have after reviewing these resources?