(1) Use of Online Teaching Aids in the Medical School Curriculum (2) Effectiveness of Web 2.0 Tools for Teaching in the Medical School Curriculum Teaching Activities: 1.  Year One Medical School; The Scientific Foundations of Medicine In this course, offered to all Medical students at the beginning of their first year, I direct the Histology laboratories of the Cell Physiology section. Here, all slides for student study have been made available via Virtual Microscopy (VM). To supplement this, I have created a series of “Microlectures” to accompany each annotated series of VM slides. Using these tools, students learn to appreciate the complex interrelationships that exist between the structure and function of cells, tissues, and organs.

Education –Related Programs: 1.  Creation of a Histology Imagebase, called “Overlayer” with the Office of Medical Informatics Education.  This is a computer version of the collection of slides used in the teaching of Histology, and is available to all medical and graduate students. 2.  Creation of a collection of Histology  “e-lectures” available for student study and use in preparation for laboratory presentations. 3.  Adaptation of Virtual Microscopy to Histology Curriculum, with annotated slides and microlectures. 4.  Introduction of Team-based Learning and Team Presentations adapted to course curriculum. 5.  Creation and Supervision of Histology Art Projects: for first year Graduate Students in the Art as Applied to Medicine Graduate Program

Publications Related to Educational Activities

1. Lippincott’s Pocket Pathology, Donna E. Hansel and Renee Z. Dintzis. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 2006

2. Goldberg, H., Dintzis, R.Z., The Positive Impact of Team-based Virtual Microscopy on Student Learning. Advances in Physiology Education. submitted, 2007

3. Lehmann, H.P., Freedman, J.A., Massad, J., and Dintzis, R.Z.  An Ethnographic, Controlled Study of a Computer-Based Histology Atlas During a Laboratory Course.   Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.(JAMIA) 6, 38-52 (1999).

Scientific Research Background and Interests

My scientific research background and interests have been in the field of Immunology. Although I do not now conduct laboratory research, I had previously been engaged in studying the regulatory effect of antigenic material on antibody production and the activities of B and T lymphocytes.

These studies were aimed at determining precisely what physical and chemical properties of antigen-derivatized polymeric molecules cause them to be either immunogenic or inhibitory. It was found that an antibody-producing immune response could be inhibited and prevented from recurring by treating with specific soluble antigen arrays. Such molecules were not only potent inhibitors of antibody production, but were themselves non-immunogenic at any dose. Interestingly, inhibitory polymers were not only effective in preventing an immune response from arising, but could 'cure' a well established, ongoing antibody response.

Selected Publications

Dintzis, H.M. and Dintzis, R.Z.  A Molecular Basis for Immune Regulation: The Immunon Hypothesis.  In Theoretical Immunology, Part One, Volume II.  A.S. Perelson, ed.  Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.,Reading, Mass., pgs. 83-103 (1988).

Dintzis, Renee Z., Okajima, M., Middleton, M.H., and Dintzis, H.M. Inhibition of Antibody Formation by Receptor Cross-Linking: The Molecular Characteristics of Inhibitory Haptenated Polymers.  Eur. J. Immunol. 20, 221-224, (1990).

Dintzis, H.M. and Dintzis, R.Z.  Antigens as Immunoregulators.  Immunological Reviews  No. 115,  243-250, (1990).

Dintzis, Howard M. and Dintzis, Renee Z.  Profound Specific Suppression by Antigen of Persistent  IgM, IgG, and IgE Antibody Production.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA  89, 1113-1117, (1992).

Dintzis, R.Z. Rational Design of Conjugate Vaccines. Ped. Research, 32, 376-385 (1992).

Dintzis, H.M., Symer, D.E., Dintzis, R.Z., Zawadzke, L.E., Berg, J.M.  A Comparison of the Immunogenicity of a Pair of Enantiomeric Proteins.  Proteins 16, 306-308 (1993).

Symer, D.E., Reim, J., Dintzis, R.Z., Voss, E.W. Jr., Dintzis, H.M.  Durable Elimination of High Affinity, T Cell-Dependent  Antibodies by Low Molecular Weight Antigen Arrays In Vivo. J. Immunol. 155, 5608-5616 (1995).

Reim, J.W., Symer, D.E., Watson, D.C., Dintzis, R.Z., and Dintzis, H.M.  Low Molecular Weight  Antigen  Arrays Delete High Affinity Memory B Cells Without Affecting Specific T-Cell Help.  J. Molec. Immunol.  33, 1377-1388 (1996).