Prof De Tomaso is one of the best lecturers in the MCDB department in my opinion. He has a vast knowledge of his field but is incredible at teaching the concepts in a digestible way.
Tomaso is a fast lecturer and covers a lot of material, but the lectures are recorded and he's accessible if you have any questions regarding the material. Exams are mostly critical thinking and involve less memorization of details. If you keep up with the material and really understand every concept you can get a good grade in this class.
Dr. De Tomaso goes fast during lectures, but he does record them, so feel free to rewatch every one of them. His exams are fair, as you do not have to be super specific. Immunology, in general, is difficult, so you might have to read the textbook chapters. Overall, the class is difficult because of the subject itself, not because of the instructor.
Took this class along with the honors. Good teacher who focuses heavily on research and experiments, tests are little memorization and have large sections on interpreting data and designing your own experiment. Hard to finish in time but TAs grade answers leniently. Overall I liked him but def not an easy A if you dont have research experience.
Toughest class I've taken at UCSB. I received all A's in my other upper-division bio classes, yet was barely able to survive this class. De Tomaso focuses so heavily on research that you leave lectures not knowing what's going on. His tests are poorly constructed. The other reviewers are definitely outliers because most of the class did dismally.
Most interesting class I've taken at UCSB. He presents the material in a way that usually begins with a research question and ends with an experiment that led to a major discovery in immunology. Tests are challenging and require critical thinking and less memorization of specific details from lecture. Great professor and great class.
Disregard the trash comment below. Study effectively bc exam scores don't lie. Easy A for a 5-unit course.
Very information heavy and lectures very fast. Class is split into 3 lectures a week and a review session. The amount of information he covers in a 50 minute lecture is equivalent to other upper div MCDB courses that are taught in a 75 minute lecture. So expect to do 1.5x the amount of work. Lectures are on gauchocast so attendance isn't mandatory
Hands down best class I've ever taken at UCSB. He presents the subject in a way that makes students feel like they themselves are at the forefront of research. The material can be complicated but he teaches so intuitively that I barely found myself having to memorize anything and you really can't help but leave deeply appreciative of the system.
Amazing professor. So much charisma and his enthusiasm is infectious. He loves what he teaches and his lectures are perfect. Always available to answer questions and is a really cool guy to talk to. He knows so much about immunology and if he doesn't know something it's because it hasn't been discovered yet! Tough material but best class in MCDB.
Tomaso teaches in an intuitive style that differs from most of the other professors in the MCDB field. He explains things with the big picture first and then fills in the details and almost completely devalues memorization as a form of learning. He uses real research examples and focuses on cutting edge and relevant material. Tests are long beware.