Immune attack

Americans have developed an educational three-dimensional video game with a third-person view called Immune Attack, designed to teach teenagers the basics of cytology and immunology.

In the "Immune Attack", the player enters the microcosm of cells and antibodies to save the patient's body from bacterial infection. Controlling the microbot "Explorer", whose diameter, according to the terms of the game, is 25 microns, the player travels through blood vessels and through connective tissues, observing and controlling receptors, hormones and lipids, which are drawn in accordance with the schemes used by scientists.

All actions, such as the capture of foreign proteins by leukocytes, for example, which are produced by a participant in the game, correspond to real events occurring in our body when an infection enters it.

The authors of the game – Melanie A. Stegman and Michelle L. Fox – offered the game to 180 students for trial. The knowledge and understanding of the material obtained as a result of the game turned out to be much higher than after testing another previously created game "Riddles of Medicine" (Medical Mysteries Series), which demonstrates to the player the development of an infectious disease at a non-molecular level.

The authors of the game reported that they plan to spread the "Immune Attack" to computer classes in American schools to create new video games based on it. "Immune Attack 2.0" is scheduled for release next year.

On the website www.ImmuneAttack.org you can download the game for free (although you will have to fill out a long questionnaire) and enroll in the beta testers of Immune Attack 2.0.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the ABC magazine11.12.2009