February 1, 2015 (Vol. 35, No. 3)
Rating:
Strong Points: Various topics covered, illustrations included with text
Weak Points: More content (like glossary) could be added
Platform:
iPad/iPhone/Android
Cost:
Free
Summary:
Although largely composed of links to external web resources from the BioLegend website, the BioLegend Basic Immunology app does have a nice offline educational module that introduces some fundamental concepts in immunology. Listed on the homepage of the app as the “Basic Immunology” module, this part of the app is composed of eleven short pages of information, each page covering a different topic in immunology. These topics include adaptive immunity, cytokines, phagocytosis, and antigen presentation, among others. These pages are informative and provide some nice background information; however, they could benefit from being fleshed out a bit more. For example, certain key terms are highlighted in the text, yet there is no accompanying glossary. Despite its shortcomings, this app would likely prove useful as an introduction to the field of immunology for researchers unfamiliar with the subject.
