A part of this I suspect is that the immune system is just a generally misunderstood thing.
I've spent a good amount of time around academic biology (I'm a former science grad student) ... and I got a pretty clear impression that the immune system and immunology was just one of those things most didn't bother learning about unless they were committed to it. Probably because it's discrete enough that you can ignore it in most other fields. Also, IMO, because it's subtle and idiosyncratic enough that it's not easy to get a good grip on it through superficial study or understanding. And, I imagine, compared to things like genetics, pharmacology and neuroscience or well known diseases like cancer or MS etc, it has never attained a "sexy" appeal.
A part of this I suspect is that the immune system is just a generally misunderstood thing.
I've spent a good amount of time around academic biology (I'm a former science grad student) ... and I got a pretty clear impression that the immune system and immunology was just one of those things most didn't bother learning about unless they were committed to it. Probably because it's discrete enough that you can ignore it in most other fields. Also, IMO, because it's subtle and idiosyncratic enough that it's not easy to get a good grip on it through superficial study or understanding. And, I imagine, compared to things like genetics, pharmacology and neuroscience or well known diseases like cancer or MS etc, it has never attained a "sexy" appeal.