Cursos

Principios de Neurociencia I

Course Leader(s):

• Bryen Jordán
• Alberto Pereda

Credits/Class Meetings:

6 credits; Summer-Fall, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, 2:00-4:00pm, 2 hrs per class

Course Description:

Principles of Neuroscience I is a highly-interactive 13-week course required for students in the Department of Neuroscience. The course offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the nervous system from first principles with a focus on the molecular and cellular basis of brain function. Topics include fundamental principles underlying neuronal excitability, mechanisms of electrical and synaptic neurotransmission, the cells of the brain and their role in neurotransmission, and the architecture of the central nervous system. The class format consists of a combination of formal and informal lectures and student presentations with a major emphasis on interactive class discussion. The course requires active student participation during the class and offers review sessions if needed. This course uses the Canvas online discussion forum, where assignments are often given to expand on topics covered in class. In addition to normal course scheduled lectures, the course includes lab visits and students are also required to prepare and present at a symposium on a specific topic and to attend the weekly Neuroscience Seminar Series.

Prerequisites:

Ninguno

Objetivos del curso:

• Understand the chemical and electrical principles that lead to neuronal excitability
• Understand the principles that underlie neurotransmission, and understand how non-neuronal cells support this process
• Understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms the give rise to neurotransmission, and how input leads to short and long-term changes in neuronal function

Suitability for 1^st Year Students:

Sí

Grading:

Attendance and class participation, 25%; presentations 25%; final exam 50%. The Final Exam must be passed to pass the course. However, this is not sufficient. Active participation in class and well-prepared presentations will also be assessed and considered for passing. Students who are not sufficiently participating will be informed by the course leaders to provide them with the opportunity to increase their class participation.

Principios de Neurociencia II

Course Leader(s):

• Anita Autry
• Jose Pena
• Rubén Coen-Cagli

Credits/Class Meetings:

6 credits; Fall-Spring, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, 2:00-4:00pm, 2 hrs per class

Course Description:

Principles of Neuroscience II is a 13-week course required for students in the Department of Neuroscience. In this course, students will explore how complex neural systems integrate afferent information and direct efferent outflow. The overall goal will be to explore higher order functions, such as the structure and function of neural systems underlying sensation and movement, learning and memory at the sensory and motor levels, as well as higher-level cognitive processes including object perception and attention. Student knowledge in these areas will be built on a firm understanding of the underlying physiology and anatomical structure. Principal areas of interest will be on hierarchical neural systems, the plasticity of neural networks, serial and parallel neural processing, cognition and computational modeling.

Prerequisites:

Principios de Neurociencia I

Suitability for 1^st Year Students:

Sí

Grading:

Your grade in this course will be based on participation in class, the midterm grant proposal, the written critiques, and the final grant proposal.

Nanocourses:

Enfoques para el estudio de los circuitos neuronales en animales en comportamiento

Course Leader(s):

• Anita Autry
• Lucas Sjulson

Credits/Class Meetings:

Spring, Tuesdays, Thursdays, 2 hrs per class

Course Description:

This course will introduce students to techniques for in vivo recording of neural activity and approaches to define connectivity and expression profiling of neurons. Emphasis on techniques, instrumentation, and data analysis (demos for analysis). We will introduce the basics of measurement and instrumentation for in vivo physiology, in vivo calcium imaging, and introduce methods for manipulation, anatomy, and expression profiling of neurons. A key motivation in going over the techniques will be to compare methods for recording and manipulation (i.e. physiology versus imaging, optogenetics versus chemogenetics) in terms both of the mechanisms at the level of individual neurons and how that manipulation will impact resulting data and interpretation of behavioral/activity outcomes. Course meetings will be lectures to go over the basic information as well as hands on demonstrations with equipment and example data analysis. Students will be evaluated based class participation and on a final presentation (around 15 minutes) of recent advances in the application or analysis of one of the techniques discussed in class.

Prerequisites:

Principles of Neuroscience I and II

Objetivos del curso:

• understand principles of measurement and analysis
• understand the advantages and limitation of specific approaches for neural recordings
• get hands-on experience handling data sets from in vivo recording experiments
• understand the advantages and limitations of methods for manipulating neurons
• become versed in visualizing and interpreting data from neural recording and neural manipulation experiments

Required Material(s):

If students would like to follow along with data analysis demonstrations, a computer and free software (TBA) will be required. Demos will also be shown on-screen.

Suitability for 1^st Year Students:

Yes - Priority enrollment is given to graduate students, but postdocs and others are welcome if the maximum enrollment has not been reached.

Grading:

Se evaluará a los estudiantes según su participación en clase y una presentación final (75 % de participación; 25 % de presentación final). La participación se evaluará mediante reflexiones diarias o semanales en Canvas, que incluirán breves resúmenes de los puntos principales tratados durante la semana, y la evaluación del cuaderno de prácticas.

Asistencia y participación:

No se permitirá más de una ausencia injustificada. Todas las ausencias (justificadas o no) deberán compensarse completando el trabajo requerido en clase.

La base celular, molecular y genética de los trastornos neurológicos y psiquiátricos

Course Leader:

• Herb Lachman

Credits/Class Meetings:

Summer, Tuesdays, Thursdays, 2 hrs per class. Each session will begin with a didactic lecture lasting 1-1.5 hours, followed by students/lecturer questions and answers

Course Description:

This block will be subdivided into four, weekly sessions devoted to neurological and psychiatric disorders, as follows: Psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addiction). Speech and hearing disorders; auditory processing Neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Alzheimer Disease, Parkinson Disease, Huntington Disease) Neurological disorders (e.g., epilepsy, stroke). The lectures will combine a clinical description of the disorders with the modern approaches being used to understanding their molecular and genetic basis, for the purpose of developing novel therapies. The methods that will be discussed include genome wide association studies (GWAS), copy number variant (CNV) analysis, whole genome and exome sequencing, induced pluripotent stem cell disease-modeling, CRISPR-editing, high throughput drug screening using human neuronal cells, regenerative medicine, and gene therapy/antisense oligonucleotides.

Prerequisites:

Ninguno

Objetivos del curso:

Acquaint Ph.D. students with the clinical features of various neurological and psychiatric disorders, which are among the most disabling disorders in the world, and show how the tools of modern basic science research are being used to develop novel therapies.

Required Material(s):

Suggested reading: Each lecture will be accompanied by one article; either a review or a relevant research paper related to that particular lecture.

Suitability for 1^st Year Students:

Yes - Priority enrollment is given to graduate students, but postdocs and others are welcome if the maximum enrollment has not been reached.

Grading:

40% of the final grade will be based on attendance and class participation. At the end of each class, the students are expected to upload a short (250 word) paragraph to canvas on what they have learned in class. 60% of the final grade will be based on a mock grant proposal on any topic related to neurological or psychiatric disorders. The mock grant proposal will be graded based on the writeup (50%) and on an oral 10-20 minute presentation of the proposals (duration of each presentation will depend on the number of students taking the course) (50%).

Asistencia y participación:

No se permitirá más de una ausencia injustificada. Todas las ausencias (justificadas o no) deberán compensarse completando el trabajo requerido en clase.