JoinAll Case Studies
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Suggested Keywords, to help with your search (besides selecting subjects): clicker cases, directed cases, interrupted cases, discussion cases, intimate debate cases. As a reminder, all cases may be adjusted to meet the needs of your student level. See our case use guidelines.
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By Chaya Gopalan, William B. Kist
Hyper-IgM syndrome is an X-linked genetic disorder more commonly affecting males than females. It is caused by the lack of heavy chain class-switching from IgM to other isotypes. Patients with hyper-IgM syndrome are susceptible to a variety of infect...
By Natalie G. Farny
In this clicker case, students are introduced to George, an undergraduate student who has been experiencing some odd symptoms. His roommate convinces him to see a physician who recognizes that George's symptoms are consistent with diabetes mellitus; ...
By Ryan T. Neumann, Collin J. Quinn, Brittany A. Whitaker, Sean T. Woyton, Breanna N. Harris
In this interrupted case study, students pose as an intern of a neuromuscular/skeletal specialist and discover how sarin and myasthenia gravis influence muscle function. Students are given background information about the patients and their situation...
By Amanda J. Chunco, Jennifer K. Uno
This case study focuses on the relationship between the microbiome (the suite of species that live in or on the human body) and autoimmune and allergic diseases. At the center of the case is Amelia, a young woman living with Crohn's disease. As the c...
By Philip J. Stephens
In many physiology classes the frog neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is presented as the classic example of a chemical synapse, but many synapses show properties that are different. For example, in many chemical synapses there is a protein transporter in...
By Breanna N. Harris
In this interrupted case study, students shadow an endocrinologist as she tries to determine what is wrong with Angela Barber. Angela is a middle-aged woman presenting with symptoms suggestive of a thyroid issue. Students are given background informa...
By Charlie W. Zhao, Jasper C.H. Wong, Tom L. Haffie (rr)
This case study was originally developed for undergraduate science students as part of an extracurricular competition, but it could also be delivered as a directed case. Accordingly two versions of the activity are included. Each version requires stu...
By Patrick R. Field, Kelsey L. Logan
This interrupted case study traces the football career of Anthony "Tony Tonka Truck" Williams, and the types of brain trauma that he suffers from youth league through high school, college and his draft into the pros. In order to be successful d...
By Kendra S. Mell, Breanna N. Harris
In this directed case study students follow a nurse practitioner and work with a diagnostics team to determine what is wrong with Tristan, an infant who comes to the clinic with multiple bruises. Students are given background and patient history, and...
By Breanna N. Harris
In this directed case study, students shadow Dr. Lee in diagnosing two patients with osteoporosis. The students are given patient history and an initial panel of test results, which they discuss in small groups. After diagnosis, they are asked specif...
Why Is He Different from Both Parents?
By Jun Liang, William J. Rice
This case study was developed to teach the topic of human ABO blood type and genetic inheritance in biology courses at the lower undergraduate level or upper high school level. It is suitable for entry level biology, genetics, and physiology courses....
Unlucky Chucky and Toxins of the Neuromuscular Junction
By Andrew M. Petzold, Jennifer Wollschlager, Robert L. Dunbar
Signaling at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a complex process that is required for many actions that sustain life within humans. Toxins that act upon the NMJ, both natural and synthetic, act in a variety of ways to inhibit this function. This ca...
By Kathryn M. Burleson
Kasey is a busy undergraduate student who is struggling with her body image and wants to lose weight. To aid in this process, Kasey keeps a food and activity journal. Students review Kasey's food and exercise choices, calculate Kasey's daily caloric ...
By Breanna N. Harris
In this directed case study, students help “Dr. Gupta” diagnose three patients in an endocrinology clinic who are having problems with blood glucose regulation. In Part I, students are given patient backgrounds and results from laboratory tests g...
By Ashley E. Rhodes
Loss of species richness is often due to anthropogenic activity. The global decline of amphibians is one such example. This case study examines the impact of road deicing agents on amphibians living near bridges and roads treated heavily with salt du...
By Kristine A. Garner, Brandy C. Ree
This interrupted case study was developed for an undergraduate class in human cardiac physiology. The story follows a patient whose heart attack damaged a papillary muscle in the left ventricle of the heart. This caused valve dysfunction and mitral v...
By James A. Carr, Breanna N. Harris
"I Heart Running" is a case study in which students diagnose the cause of exercise-induced tachycardia in an otherwise healthy, 27-year-old female. The patient, Sam, is a long-distance runner and realizes that her exercising heart rate reaches over 2...
By Bruce C. Palmquist
The evolution of physiological characteristics can be strongly influenced by physics. Animals whose physiology allows them to better escape predators will live longer, on average, and be more likely to pass on the genes that led to these favorable tr...
By Karobi Moitra
This case study examines the structure of hemoglobin and myoglobin and how the structure of these molecules dictates their function. The case is written as a play in which several candidates have responded to a help wanted ad seeking an employee with...
By Briana M. Peele, John S. Peters
This case study examines a variety of biological factors that may have been involved in the 2013 dolphin "unusual mortality event" (UME) on the East Coast of the United States. The story follows a news reporter and four different scientists who are p...
By Janet A. De Souza-Hart
This case study is based on real events that the author experienced with her 10-year-old daughter. Although the names have been changed, all of the events (symptoms, diagnoses, treatments, types of healthcare professionals) are recorded exactly as th...
By Nickolas E. Millas, Nathalie Musey, Emily Duwan, Philip J. Stephens
This interrupted case study follows "Elaina Lee" and her family through a series of medical mishaps. Elaina suffers a reaction to an overdose of an herbal remedy prescribed to her while studying abroad in Africa. Upon returning home, she feels unwell...
By Eric J. Herrera
In 2012, Mike Prickett, a world-renowned underwater cinematographer, was working on a commercial photo shoot in Tahiti when he witnessed a fellow diver sinking and drowning. While saving the drowning victim, Mike fell victim to decompression sickness...
By Heather K.L. Harden, Michael L. Foley, Rachel A. Poon, Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
During the Paleolithic era, human life expectancy was only 33 years—roughly half of what it is today. We owe our more extended lives in part to better hygiene, medicines, and more plentiful foods. Yet some people aspire to return to that earlier er...
To Be or Not to Be ... an Inhibitory Neurotransmitter
By Frank Miskevich
Jessica and George are students struggling to understand the forces which control ions moving across membranes. For the nervous system in particular, ions create the electrical signals neurons use to communicate with one another. Jessica ...
By Ann T. Massey
An elderly woman living independently with some help from her family is brought to the local emergency room because she is confused and vomiting. While her son suspects a stroke, a quick battery of laboratory tests indicates that her current pro...
By Giovanni Casotti
This case study examines the events surrounding the hatching and migration of loggerhead sea turtles, specifically what mechanisms they use to head towards the ocean (once hatched) and where and how they migrate once in the ocean. The story is ...
Differential Diagnosis and Treatment of an Autoimmune Response
By Alisa J. Petree, Sondra A. Dubowsky, Mary A. Sides
There are a number of medical disorders that mimic each other and accordingly prove problematic for diagnosis, including autoimmune disorders (rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus), bacterial infections (syphilis), and arthropod born...
By Giovanni Casotti
This case study presents a fictional story in a realistic setting to teach aspects of human cardiovascular and respiratory physiology as they pertain to decompression sickness and its treatment options. Specifically, students learn about the partial ...
By Susan D. Hester
This case study presents three true stories of people who suffered fatal hyponatremia (low sodium concentration in their body fluids) after consuming excessive amounts of water. Students examine the tonicity of the extracellular environment created b...
Diabetes and Insulin Signaling
By Kristy J. Wilson
Cellular signaling, otherwise known as signal transduction, is the mechanism by which cellular context and environmental situation are used to regulate or adjust cellular behavior. Multicellular organisms use cellular signaling to coordinate response...
By John T. Ripple, Stephen E. Marcaccio, Daniel R. Sherman, Philip J. Stephens
This interrupted case study in gastric physiology follows the story of Frank, a businessman under a lot of stress who has a car accident while driving home from work one night. Frank has low blood insulin levels and high blood sugar levels that his d...
Pharmacogenetics: How Genetic Information Is Used to Treat Disease
By Maureen Knabb
In this clicker case, two teenagers are diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the bone marrow where there is an abnormal overproduction of lymphocyte precursors. The girls' reactions to treatment are very different, however, ...
By Jennifer E. Schaefer
Cholera is a commonly explored disorder when teaching transmembrane transport....
Under the Knife and Completely Aware
By Patrick R. Field, Gabrielle Gangemi, Taylor Kinsley
This case study is based on a newspaper article about the suicide of Sherman Sizemore shortly after he underwent an exploratory laparotomy (abdominal surgery). After his surgery, Sherman experienced symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress dis...
By Philip J. Stephens
Scallops are bivalve mollusks that live on the seabed. This way of life makes them susceptible to predation and so they have evolved the ability to escape by swimming. This interrupted case study is based on a few observations and simple experiments ...
From Cow Juice to a Billion Dollar Drug, With Some Breakthroughs in Between
By Justin F. Shaffer
Before the discovery of insulin in 1921, being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes was a death sentence. Despite the successful management of diabetes with purified animal insulin, potentially severe side effects were abundant, and alternative ways to pro...
By Maureen Knabb
This "clicker" case presents the true story of a 20-year-old athlete who developed a life threatening reaction to anesthesia during a simple elective surgical procedure. His response was unexpected, but not unusual for individuals who possess an inhe...
By Nancy M. Boury
In this "clicker case," students assume the role of pre-med students participating in a summer internship. As interns, they diagnose several different genetic deficiencies of glycolytic pathway enzymes based on the biochemical activity of blood sampl...
By Nancy M. Boury
This case is a variation of a longer case in our collection titled "Murder or Medical Mishap? Death on the Metabolic Ward," which has a "murder-mystery" aspect to it. In both versions of the case, students assume the role of pre-med students pa...