Introduction

I am a third-year biochemistry student. I chose biochemistry because I was interested in chemistry but wanted to try out some biology courses to see if anything would pique my interest.

One thing I did find interesting is that keratinocytes do more than just provide physical protection from the environment. Keratinocytes are epithelial cells. Their function as a cell is to provide both physical and chemical protection for the skin. They also secrete inhibitory cytokines or activate Langerhans cells depending on if there is injury. They relate to the course objectives since keratinocytes respond to stimuli in their environments. They can respond to pathogens get into the top layer of skin.