True mastery of a subject is revealed not just in achieving high grades, but in the ability to teach it clearly to others. Anyone can memorize and reproduce information for an exam — but explaining complex immunological concepts without relying on ´muscle memory´ forces us to confront whether we truly understand them.
Research supports this: ´𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰-𝘣𝘦-𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴, although the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘭. These include planning what material to (vs. not to) present, thinking about how to frame and express the material, and attempting to provide organizational structure´ [1].
Since 2020, I have been inspired by science communicator, and now a professor – 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗹.
Through conversations at work, I noticed something troubling. My colleagues with advanced German Master’s degrees (German masters degrees are no joke), who posess state-of-the-art technical knowledge HPLC, Massspec, CRISPR, iPSC, killifish work — often tell me they struggle to understand immuno-oncology, immunotherapy, or basic immunology papers. So they 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺.
𝗜𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲?
That realization convinced me 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵.
From vaccines, endogenous retroviruses, oncolytic virsues, autologus T cell therapies, to allergies, anaphylactic shock, sepsis, and SCID.
𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦. I also believe my own multidisciplinary and systems perspective allows me to present science in a way that connects the dots differently than standard textbooks.
That is why I am launching 𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗗𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆—𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻.
This is my personal challenge: to demonstrate consistency, refine my teaching skill, and create a body of knowledge that others can truly use…and connect with other immunology nerds!
📍 Stay tuned for 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟮: 𝗜𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 – 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺
hashtag#100DaysOfImmunologyhashtag#Immunologyhashtag#MechanisticBiologyhashtag#BiomedicalSciencehashtag#LifeScienceshashtag#Researchhashtag#ScienceCommunicationhashtag#ScienceEducationhashtag#TeachingImmunologyhashtag#ScientificCommunity
Ivana Radosavljević | Immunotherapy Scientist | Living and Breathing Immunology 