Immunology programs focus on the scientific study of the ways that people get sick or get well. Students learn how the human immune system works. They study ways to regulate and support the immune system to promote good health.

Imagine a world where you regularly have to allow a person wearing a sterile white coat and gloves to inject foreign substances into your blood using a thin, sharp needle. No, this is not some horrific vision of biomedical cruelty. In fact, if you've ever gotten a shot protecting you from a disease such as measles or mumps, you already live in this world.

Vaccination often involves injecting small amounts of a disease-causing microorganism into your blood. The amount is small enough that your body can easily attack the microorganisms. It's also large enough that your body will start producing protective cells against this specific disease and will quickly recognize and attack it the next time it dares to come around.

The concepts behind vaccination are based on our understanding of the human immune system. White blood cells called lymphocytes produce proteins called antibodies that act as our bodies' defense against diseases. Think of them as soldiers with sharp eyesight and excellent memories. When they recognize a disease-causing microorganism in your body, they latch on and get rid of it.

As you know, however, our immune systems don't always work as well as we'd like. Sometimes they backfire, as in the case of allergies, when a harmless grain of pollen sets off an excessive immune response from our bodies. It's like summoning the SWAT team to confront a kid with a water gun.

There are even diseases that set our immune system against ourselves. These are called autoimmune diseases, and they cause our antibodies to think that parts of ourselves are foreign and need to be attacked.

Research in immunology has contributed greatly to our understanding of infectious diseases such as AIDS, allergies, and autoimmune diseases, as well as many other applications. But there is still much important work ahead.

As a student of immunology, you learn about the intricate workings of our immune systems. Immunology works on a molecular and cellular level, based on both biological and chemical principles. Because of this, you study molecular biology, cell biology, and different types of chemistry such as biochemistry and organic chemistry.

In graduate school, you get the opportunity to select a particular topic in immunology that most interests you and focus your research on it. You can go on to be a researcher full-time, either in an academic or an industrial setting. You could combine this with teaching at the university level. Many immunologists also go on to practice medicine as well. These are some possible career outcomes for students in this program.

About 90 schools in the U.S. offer graduate programs in immunology where you can earn either a master's or a doctoral degree. A few schools also offer bachelor's degree programs. However, more commonly, a school will have a bachelor's degree program in biology with opportunities to do course work and research in immunology.

A bachelor's degree typically takes about four years of full-time study after high school. A master's degree generally takes between five and seven years, and a doctoral degree usually takes between nine and eleven years.