BIOL 341Fundamentals of Immunology
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Science
- Subject
- Biology
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 3 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
This course will provide students with an understanding of the fundamental concepts of the vertebrate immune system. Topics will focus on the components of the immune system, innate and adaptive immunity, immune cell development, communication, and recognition of non-self leading to an immune response. Theory will be complemented with laboratory experiments applying immunological techniques.
Prerequisites
- Complete all of the following
- Must have completed the following:
- Complete 1 of the following
- Must have completed the following:
- BIOL241 - Introduction to Applied Microbiology (0.50)
- Complete all of the following
- Students must be in level 3A or higher
- Enrolled in H-Biochemistry, or H-Biochemistry - Biotechnology Specialization
- Must have completed the following:
Antirequisites
None listed.
Leads to
Winter 2027 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 6851 | 0 / 128 | MWF 11:30–12:20 |
| LEC 701 | 2567 | 120 / 9999 | Online or by arrangement |
| LAB 101 | 6852 | 0 / 32 | Jan 18 14:30–17:20 Feb 1 14:30–17:20 Feb 22 14:30–17:20 Mar 8 14:30–17:20 Mar 22 14:30–17:20 Apr 5 14:30–17:20 |
| LAB 102 | 6853 | 0 / 32 | Jan 19 14:30–17:20 Feb 2 14:30–17:20 Feb 23 14:30–17:20 Mar 9 14:30–17:20 Mar 23 14:30–17:20 Apr 6 14:30–17:20 |
| LAB 103 | 6854 | 0 / 32 | Jan 19 19:00–21:50 Feb 2 19:00–21:50 Feb 23 19:00–21:50 Mar 9 19:00–21:50 Mar 23 19:00–21:50 Apr 6 19:00–21:50 |
| LAB 104 | 6855 | 0 / 32 | Jan 20 14:30–17:20 Feb 3 14:30–17:20 Feb 24 14:30–17:20 Mar 10 14:30–17:20 Mar 24 14:30–17:20 Apr 7 14:30–17:20 |
Reviewed on UW Flow
69% liked it8% easy93% useful
From 35 ratings and 16 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
This course was very poorly organized. Dr. Dixon took over lectures after the first midterm. It felt like a different course and did not connect well to the earlier material. Katzenback and Dixon need to communicate more since Dr. Dixon did not know what was covered before the first midterm and kept asking "Did you guys cover this already?" Only 2 days were left between teaching the material and the midterm. Dr. Dixon was still teaching new material on Wednesday which was being tested on Friday. The lab was also horrible. You can't do well on the quizzes even if you study since the questions are too vague and the expected answers are too specific. If you like memorizing 50 cytokines, what…
Apr 2018 · didn’t like it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
ABSOLUTE WORST COURSE YOU CAN TAKE SIMPLY BECAUSE OF HOW POORLY IT WAS ORGANIZED. She did not teach anything useful or important and expected us to know details of ideas and concepts we never covered in class. Could not follow along with the textbook because for some reason they decided to not follow the order in which a PUBLISHED textbook decided to introduce material. You can work your butt off for this and it will still be horrendous. Good luck though... you'll need it or not CAUSE DONT TAKE THIS COURSE. Only useful cause it is a prereq...
Feb 2018 · didn’t like it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
It's difficult to extract the value from this course, but knowledge of immunology has many, many applications. I wasn't able to see things come together until studying for the final, mostly because of the course's poor organisation (but also somewhat because of the lacklustre lecturing)
Jul 2016 · didn’t like it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Course was split in half, with Dr. Barbara Katzenback teaching the first midterm material, Dr. Brian Dixon teaching the second midterm material, and taking turns with the rest. Course was largely disorganized and all over the place.
Clickers for marks were used sporadically for a while and then suddenly dropped. Required to read whole chapters to do prechapter quizzes for marks before every class. Readings were not helpful, and only a fraction of the reading was actually covered in class, making it a huge time sink with little return. Prechapter quizzes were suddenly dropped halfway through the course. For a course that was repeatedly stressed to be "process driven" and "integrative" and…Apr 2016 · didn’t like it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Course: Interesting content, but order of material was not ideal for learning. Could not follow from the textbook because lectures were not in the same order: would take half of chapter 11 and pair it with chapter 4, then 3 weeks later do first part of chapter 11. Quizzes were due before beginning a new chapter and prof would post them less than 48 hrs before they were due (one time, a quiz was posted less than 24 hrs before it was due - during peak midterm season!) Required to read whole chapters but only material covered in class were testable, making student waste time reading things they don't need to know. Prof was way too fast and powerpoint slides were lacking important details,…
Apr 2016 · didn’t like it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
36 posts and comments in 33 threads mention BIOL 341, November 2016 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Fall 2024
I have too much courses want to take 4 points, 14 comments
u/Eileen1202: “… And I also founded out that honors of applied math need PHYS121 💀 My wishlist is: - science PHYS121 (If I have to take) BIOL 239 BIOL 240 BIOL 341 virology or virus related and some required courses abou applied bio/math in bio stuffs anatomy (if possible) some health courses …”
Spring 2023
BIOL 342 vs BIOL 308 vs BIOL 341 ? 2 points, 2 comments
u/Luvvul1234: “Hello guys, If anyone had taken any of the courses mentioned in title, how was your experience? Which one should be the most manageable? Kind of having a hard time trying to find 3rd and 4th year BIOL & CHEM average/easy electives. …”
u/hoemaster123: “Biol 341 lab portion sucks. You’ll have to write bi weekly “mini” lab reports worth 2% but take as long as normal ones if you want to do well. …”
Winter 2023
BIOL 341 - Final exam 1 point, 0 comments
BIOL 341- Cytokines! 1 point, 0 comments
Spring 2022
BIO 403 VS BIO 443 1 point, 4 comments
“Has anyone taken any of these before? How did you find out? Currently deciding between the two.”
u/BornParsley: “… Opposite to what the other comment said I thought it was one of the easier biol courses compared to something like biol 469 or biol 341. The in person lab wasn’t too bad for a Dr. Duxbury lab and you only have to write a short lab summary compared to a full length one. …”
Winter 2022
see you all on february 7th 88 points, 10 comments
u/Dimtar_: “… 130 (Lecture) BIOL 165 (Lecture) BIOL 239 (Lecture) BIOL 302 (Lecture) BIOL 331 (Lecture) BIOL 341 (Lecture) BIOL 346 (Lecture) BIOL 355 (Lecture) BIOL 371 (Lecture) BIOL 373 (Lecture) BIOL 414 (Lecture) BIOL 428 (Lecture) BIOL 442 (Lecture) BIOL 477L (Tutorial) CHEM 123 …”
Fall 2021
W22: BIOL 302, BIOL 331, BIOL 341, BIOL 237L, BIOL 371, BIOL 477L online ? 0 points, 6 comments
u/CherryOnThat: “Does anyone know if BIOL 302, BIOL 331, BIOL 341, BIOL 237L, BIOL 371, BIOL 477L will be exclusively online? perhaps any TA knows?”
[deleted by user] 1 point, 2 comments
u/SouthernAd8931: “BIOL 341”
Spring 2021
Has anyone taken BIOL 354 or HLTH 340? 0 points, 5 comments
“I’m interested in environmental toxicology but don’t know which course to take. Both seem similar. Does anyone have the course outlines?”
u/1happyfeet: “I took 354 last spring term - I don't have the outline but I think it was something like 30% labs, 25% midterm 1, 25% midterm 1, 10% project, 10% participation (these weekly questions). …”
u/Marsento: “… I took BIOL 341 (immunology) last term and the 5 lab summaries were extremely time-consuming. I ended up writing them as if they were lab reports, even though they were supposed to be lab summaries. …”
Winter 2021
BIOL 341 1 point, 0 comments
I'm taking 8 Biomed Sciences courses 1 point, 9 comments
“And it's surprisingly not that bad??? My workload has definitely increased like crazy but it's not unmanageable! …”
u/conorathrowaway: “What are the courses? I’m in 4th year biomed and can let you know if you’re taking any of the killer courses. If you’re taking molecular bio or embryology you’ll want to reconsider. …”
u/kirishimeth: “Nah, I took molecular bio a while back. I know it's death :') I took BIOL 341 - immunology BIOL 302 - histology BIOL 449 - public health microbio BIOL 273L - human phys 1 BIOL 373L - human phys 2 CHEM 237 - biochem CHEM 237L CHEM 123L - general Chem 2 lab”
Fall 2020
Anyone dropping BIOL 341 or BIOL 355? 3 points, 10 comments
Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026
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